Planning performance statistics: fourth quarter 2017-2018 and annual

2. Processing Agreements

Some local authorities use processing agreements ( Annual, 2017/18: Table 1), where the developer and the local authority agree on timescales for decisions. When an application is subject to a processing agreement it is removed from average decision time calculations and reported separately.

For the year 2017/18 there were a total of 2,106 applications that were subject to a processing agreement, with 78.7% of these processed within agreed timescales. This is an increase of 40% in the number of applications with processing agreements compared with the previous year which had 1,503 applications with 81.7% within agreed timescales.

Of the 2,106 applications that were subject to a processing agreement in 2017/18, 1,671 were for local developments with 79.5% processed within agreed timescales. This represents 6% of all local development applications concluded in 2017/18. A further 93 were for major developments with 73.1% processed within agreed timescales. The 93 major applications concluded by the use of a processing agreement represents 28% of all major development applications concluded in 2017/18.

Chart 9: Applications for Local Developments: Number of processing agreements

Chart 10: Applications for Local Developments: Percentage processed within agreed timescales

Chart 11: Applications for Major Developments: Number of processing agreements

Chart 12: Applications for Major Developments: Percentage processed within agreed timescales

22 out of 34 planning authorities used processing agreements in 2017/18. Aberdeenshire with a total 525 processing agreements had a share of almost one quarter of these agreements, with 88.8% of these meeting agreed timescales.

Some processing agreements are made at the outset of an application whereas others have been activated at a later stage.

Four of the 2,106 applications with processing agreements were legacy applications with validation dates between February 2001 and June 2009.