Planning Applications Statistics 2023/2024: Annual and Quarterly (October 2023 to March 2024) Official Statistics

2. Local Developments

Local developments include applications for changes to houses and smaller developments for new housing. They also include applications covering areas of development such as minerals, business & industry, waste management, electricity generation, freshwater fish farming, marine finfish farming, marine shellfish farming, telecommunications, Approval of Matters Specified in Conditions (AMSCs) and other developments.

Some authorities use processing agreements where the developer and the authority agree on timescales for decisions. When an application is subject to a processing agreement it is not included in average decision time calculations.

2.1. All Local Developments

There were 22,565 local development applications decided in 2023/24. Numbers fell in 2020/21 at the beginning of COVID Pandemic restrictions and in 2021/22 numbers seem to have been boosted as those restrictions began to be lifted.

The average decision time for applications without processing agreements increased during 2020/21 and 2022/23. This has increased again in 2023/24 to 11.6 weeks despite the number of applications falling. In 2019/20, before the COVID Pandemic, the average time was 9.1 weeks.

Time period for local applications

Under planning regulations, authorities should determine applications for local developments within two months of the validation date. This is the date when the last piece of information on the content is received. More information is available in the planning circular on development management procedures.

View Planning circular 3/2022: development management procedures - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The percentage decided within two months increased to 63.7% in 2023/24 compared to 60.4% in 2022/23. This is lower than before the COVID Pandemic when around 74.1% were decided within two months.

Chart 2: All Local Developments: Percentage under two months

Chart 3: Applications for Local Developments with processing agreements

In 2023/24, there were 3,095 local development applications with processing agreements. Agreed timescales were met for 72.5% of applications which increased from 71.2% compared to the previous year The use of processing agreements by planning authorities for local applications increased during the COVID Pandemic. This has remained higher than the years prior.

2.2. Local Housing Developments

Local housing developments are those that have less than 50 dwellings and a site area that is less than 2 hectares.

Chart 4: Local Housing Developments

There is a downward trend in local housing applications, numbering 3,653 in 2023/24, compared to 4,194 in 2022/23. In 2023/24 the average decision time for those without processing agreements (19.4 weeks) and has increased by 2.2 weeks since 2022/23. 40.3% were decided within two months, slightly more (39.5%) compared to 2022/23.

Chart 5: Local Housing Developments: Percentage under two months

There can be long decision times for some local housing developments and these affect the average (mean). However, the middle or median value of decision times (median = 10.0 weeks) was lower than the average mean value (19.4 weeks) because the median is not affected by long decision times.

832 local housing applications with processing agreements were determined. Two-thirds (66.9%) of these met timescales agreed between developers and local authorities.

2.3. Local Business and Industry Developments

Business and Industry developments include construction of a building or structure for any of the following: use as an office, for research and development of products or processes, for any industrial process or for use for storage or as a distribution centre. To be classed as local, the gross floor space must not be more than 10,000 square metres and the site area must be less than 2 hectares.

The number of local business and industry applications was 1,483 in 2023/24, slightly lower than 1,506 in the previous year 2022/23. Average decision times for those applications not subject to processing agreements had been rising since up to 2022/23 (12.4 weeks) but this dropped to 11.5 weeks in 2023/24.

Chart 6: Local Business and Industry Developments: Number of decisions

308 local business and industry applications with processing agreements were determined. Just under three quarters (68.2%) of these met agreed timescales that had been set between developers and local authorities.

Chart 7: Local Business and Industry Developments: Percentage under two months

2.4. Local Applications by Development Type

Chart 8: Local Developments Without Processing Agreements by Development Type

Chart 9: Local Developments Without Processing Agreements by Development Type: Average decision time (weeks)

Just under half (49%) of all local applications without processing agreements were from householders making changes to their properties. These applications had the shortest average decision time of 8.3 weeks.