Planning Authority Performance Statistics 2013/14

7. Percentages under two months - Longer term annual trends for Local Developments

Annual trends for the percentages of local developments decided within 2 months are available over several years and these are shown in this section. Legacy cases have only been analysed separately for the past two years and therefore results for 2010/11 and 2011/12 are for all applications only.

7.1 All Local Developments

Numbers of decisions on local applications decreased between the years 2010/11 to 2012/13 but then increased in 2013/14. There were 30,026 local applications decided during the year 2013/14, and the percentage of these decisions made in under two months in 2013/14 increased to 72.7% from 69.4% in the previous year. When the 97 legacy cases in 2013/14 are included the percentage of decision made in under two months falls slightly to 72.5%, however this is also the highest percentage over the past four years. (Annual, 2013/14 - Table 4)

7.2 Householder Developments

The number of decisions for householder applications fell to a low in 2012/13 but then increased in the most recent year. The fall in figures between 2011/12 and 2012/13 can be partly explained by changes to permitted development rights. Permitted development rights are granted so that many instances of small alterations and extensions can be carried out without the need to submit an application for planning permission. In February 2012 these rights were extended to a wider range of categories and so led to a reduction in the number of householder developments that required planning permission. There were 13,904 applications decided during the year 2013/14 and the percentage of decisions made in under two months in 2013/14 was 86.4% similar to 86.1% in the previous year but also the highest percentage over the past four years. (Annual, 2013/14 - Table 6)

7.3 Local Housing

The number of decisions for local housing applications fell to a low in 2012/13 followed by an increase in the most recent year to 5,762 decisions. The percentage of decisions made in under two months was 55.5%, an increase from 48.9% in the previous year. There has been a steady improvement in the percentage of decisions made in under two months over the past four years. (Annual, 2013/14 - Table 10)

7.4 Local Business & Industry

The number of decisions made for local business & industry applications fell to a low in the year 2013/14. The percentage of decisions made in under two months was 66.7% an increase from 62.5% in the previous year. When the 15 legacy cases in 2013/14 are included the percentage of decision made in under two months falls slightly to 66.3%. There has been a steady improvement in the percentage of decisions made in under two months over the past four years. (Annual, 2013/14 - Table 12)

7.5 Local Electricity Generation

There was a sharp increase in the number of decisions made on applications for local electricity generation (from 557 to 1,227) between 2010/11 and 2011/12. This has tailed off more recently to 863 applications in 2013/14. At the same time the percentage of decisions made in under two months dropped from 49.2% in 2010/11 to 29.7% in 2013/14. (Annual, 2013/14 - Table 16)

7.6 Local Other Developments

After householder developments applications for other developments are the most frequent type of local application. This is the category for developments that do not fall into one of the other specific categories of application and includes, for example, applications for retail developments, food and drink outlets, hotels, hospitals, schools and leisure & tourism developments. There has been an improvement in the percentage of decisions made in under two months over the past four years. (Annual, 2013/14 - Table 20)

Information on decisions for other specific categories of local developments is available within the detailed Excel tables at:
Planning Authority Performance Statistics 2013/14 Annual