Planning Authority Performance Statistics 2013/14

13. Major Developments by Planning Authority, 2013/14

As in the previous section results are only given for post-3^rd August applications. Results for all applications can be found in the detailed excel tables at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Planning

13.1 Major Developments - by development type, 2013/14

The chart shows information on the case mix for each planning authority, ordered by the most frequent applications (housing followed by other developments). However, note that numbers of decisions made for major developments are very small at planning authority level. For example, Orkney made one decision for a major housing development and Eilean Siar made one decision for a major electricity generation development. Glasgow made the most decisions (35) for major planning applications with 40% for housing developments and 46% for other major developments.

13.2 Major Developments - average decision times, 2013/14

The following chart shows the average decision times for major developments ordered by the number of decisions made for local developments in each planning authority. In total there were 309 decisions made on local developments in 2013/14 with an overall average decision time of 34.6 weeks.

Numbers of decisions made for major developments are very small compared to those for local developments and the average decision times at local authority level are likely to be volatile. The case mix also has a strong influence on average decision times. On average, applications for major electricity generation developments followed by those for major housing developments take longer for a decision than other types of major development. Therefore, it can be expected that those local authorities with a high proportion of these types of major applications will have longer than average decision times. For Eilean Siar, Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire, Midlothian and Orkney three quarters or more of their major applications were either for electricity generation or major housing developments.

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire and East Dunbartonshire have not stopped the clock on any of their applications in 2013/14. Average decision times for these local authorities may be higher than otherwise, and higher than those authorities who are able to report delays in decision making.

The following table is an extract from Annual, 2013/14 - Table 2 and allows comparison of the average decision times for major applications between years.

Table 6: Major Applications: Average Decision Time

Due to the small numbers of major applications, especially at local authority level, average times are more variable. However, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Argyll & Bute, Dundee City & North Ayrshire have all improved their overall average decision time by over 40% compared to 2012/13.