Planning Authority Performance Statistics 2013/14

3. Annual average decision times by Development Type

3.1 Local Developments

Local developments include applications for changes to individual houses and smaller developments for new 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, telecommunications, approval of matters specified in conditions (AMSCs) and other developments. The category "other developments" includes, for example, applications for retail developments, food and drink outlets, hotels, hospitals, schools and leisure & tourism developments. (Annual, 2013/14 - Scotland table)

The average decision time for the 30,026 post-3^rd August 2009 applications in 2013/14 was 10.6 weeks. This compares with an average decision time of 11.4 weeks for 29,332 applications in the previous year. When the 97 legacy cases are included the average decision time increases from 10.6 weeks to 11.3 weeks.

Chart 6 show that the average decision time varies between types of development. The largest share of local developments are for householder developments (over 46%) that have the shortest decision time of on average 7.7 weeks. Applications for electricity generation (almost 3% of all local decisions) have the longest average decision time equal to 23.1 weeks (23.5 weeks when 2 additional legacy cases are included). Legacy cases can skew average decision times. For example, when the two legacy cases are included in the average decision time for waste management developments, the average increases by 7.4 weeks from 19.4 to 26.8 weeks.

During the year 2013/14 there were 288 local housing application decisions (5% of the total) where the clock had been stopped at some point within the application process. On average over a year has been removed for these applications, and this will have had an effect on the overall average decision times. For the previous year, there were 112 local housing application decisions (2% of the total) where the clock had been stopped at some point. This improvement in reporting is likely to lower some overall decision times between years. See Annex 14.2 for further details.

Some local developments are subject to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). Results for these developments are not included here and instead are reported separately in the detailed tables (Annual, 2013/14 - Tables 23 & 28).

Glasgow is unable to separate out developments subject to EIAs and so these will be included in with their decisions on local development.

The following tables give comparable figures for the previous year. There was an improvement in overall average decision times for 6 out of the 10 local development types. Minerals developments had the biggest percentage improvement in average decision time from 26.9 to 15.8 weeks, whilst waste management had the biggest increase from 16.3 to 19.4 weeks.

Table 1: Post 3^rd August 2009 local applications, Annual average decision times by Development Type

Table 2: All local applications, Annual average decision times by Development Type

3.2 Major Developments

Major developments include applications for developments of 50 or more homes, as well as other applications covering areas of development such as minerals, housing, 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. Details for the classification of all development types can be found here:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/278390/0083657.pdf

Due to the small number of applications for some types of major developments, average decision times may be volatile between types and years. (Annual, 2013/14 - Scotland table)

The average decision time for the 309 post-3^rd August 2009 applications in 2013/14 was 34.6 weeks. This compares with an average decision time of 36.3 weeks for 238 applications in the previous year. When the 46 legacy cases are included the average decision time in 2013/14 increases from 34.6 weeks to 53.8 weeks.

Chart 10 shows that the largest share (almost 38%) of major developments are for housing developments that have an average decision time of 42.0 weeks. However, when the 30 additional legacy cases are included this average decision time increases by 28.2 weeks to 70.2 weeks. Applications for electricity generation (almost 9% of all major decisions) have the longest average decision time (post-3^rd August 2009) equal to 58.4 weeks. Legacy cases can skew average decision times. For example, when the two legacy cases are included in the average decision time for mineral developments, the average increases by 38.4 weeks from 20.6 to 59.0 weeks.

During the year 2013/14 just over a quarter of all major housing application decisions had involved a clock stop at some point within the application process. The average time stopped was over two years for these applications, and this will have had an effect on overall average decision times. For the previous year, 14% of major housing applications had contained a clock stop. This improvement in reporting is likely to lower some overall decision times between years. See Annex 14.2 for further details.

Tables 3 and 4 give comparable figures for the previous year. Minerals developments had the biggest percentage improvement in average decision time from 46.6 to 20.6 weeks, whilst business and industry developments had the biggest percentage increase from 22.8 to 26.6 weeks.

Table 3: Post 3^rd August 2009 major applications, Annual average decision times by Development Type

Table 4: All major applications, Annual average decision times by Development Type

Some of the improvement in average decision times between the years is due to better reporting of delays to decisions, allowing the clock to be stopped on the decision time for the application.