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

3. Major Developments

Major developments include applications for developments of housing (50 or more homes or large sites where the main use is for housing), as well as other applications covering areas of development such as minerals, business & industry, waste management, electricity generation, freshwater fish farming, marine finfish farming, marine shellfish farming and other developments.

Classification between local and major developments depends on the particular development type. For example, housing developments are classed as major when the application is for 50 or more dwellings or for a site that exceeds two hectares, whereas electricity generation is classed as major when the capacity of the generating station is or exceeds 20 megawatts.

3.1. All Major Developments

Chart 10: All Major Developments

There were 227 major development applications determined in 2023/24. There is a downward trend in numbers of major applications from 307 in 2019/20. Those not subject to processing agreements had an average decision time of 36.1 weeks. This is lower than the three previous years.

It is common for some major applications to take a long time to be decided. This will depend on the details and complexity of the development. Long decision times can affect the average (mean). Therefore the mean value of 36.1 weeks is higher than middle or median value of 20.3 weeks because the median is not affected by long decision times.

Chart 11: Applications for Major Developments with processing agreements

In 2023/24 there were 107 major development applications with processing agreements (an increase of 3 on the previous year). 59.8% of these met agreed timescales that had been set between developers and local authorities, slightly higher than the previous year (58.7%). Processing agreements are more likely to be used for major development applications than for local applications.

3.2. Major Housing Developments

Major housing developments are those with 50 or more dwellings or with a site area of 2 hectares or more where the main use is for housing.

Chart 12: Major Housing Developments

There were 77 major housing development applications determined in 2023/24, a decrease from 97 in the previous year. There has been a downward trend since 2019/20. Those not subject to processing agreements had an average decision time of 59.8 weeks compared to 39.3 weeks in 2022/23 (these mean values can be affected by a few applications with long decision times, however, the middle or median value is not affected and the median value for these major housing applications was lower at 32.9 weeks). Average times had risen during 2020/21 and 2021/22 and are similar to the current year.

There were 37 major housing development applications with processing agreements, almost a half (48.6%) of these met agreed timescales that had been set between developers and local authorities.

3.3. Major Business and Industry Developments

These 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 major the gross floor space must exceed 10,000 square metres or the site must exceed 2 hectares.

Chart 13: Major Business and Industry Developments

There were 34 major business and industry development applications determined in 2023/24 and increase of four in the previous year (30). Those not subject to processing agreements had an average decision time of 25.7 weeks. Average decision times for these applications have been fairly steady since 2019/20.

set between developers and local authorities.

There were 16 major business and industry development applications with processing agreements and three quarters met agreed timescales that had been

3.4. Major Applications by Development Type

Chart 14: Major Developments Without Processing Agreements by Development Type: Number of decisions

Chart 15: Major Developments Without Processing Agreements by Development Type: Average decision time (weeks)

The decision time for major business and industry was 25.7 weeks. The shortest average decision time was 6.9% for major mineral applications and highest for major housing applications at 59.8 weeks.