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

6. Stopping the Clock

Stopping the clock is used where there has been a lengthy delay caused by the applicant or external consultees, outwith the planning authority's control. This helps produce more accurate performance statistics that would otherwise have been skewed by extreme cases of delay outwith the planning authority's control.

For 2023/24 there were 2,891 applications where the clock was stopped. The average amount of time stopped was 13.9 weeks.

Local development decisions (not subject to processing agreements) involved a clock-stop in nine per cent of cases. The average clock-stop time was 14.3 weeks for local developments (without a processing agreement). Major development decisions (not subject to processing agreements) involved a clock-stop in a quarter of cases. The average clock-stop time was 41.5 weeks.