Decision times for developments in Scotland published

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According to government statistics, the average decision time for Local Developments in Scotland in 2018-19 matched the quickest average time since 2012-13, while the average time for Major Developments in Scotland in 2018-19 was just over a week quicker than the previous year.

Specifically, figures showed that the average decision time for 25,244 Local Developments was just 9 weeks, the exact same duration as the previous year, and is the fastest annual decision time since 2012-13, when data pertaining to decision times first began being collected.

Although, the actual number of Local Development decisions in Scotland in 2018-19 has actually decreased by 2%, said 2% consisting of 518 applications, with a further 8% of local applications being subject to processing agreements, this totalling a number of 2,129.

Conversely, local housing applications in Scotland experienced a slight increase in decision time from last year, going from 12.2 weeks on average in 2017-18 to 12.3 weeks on average in 2018-19, following a five year period of annual decreases in average decision times. This, however, may have been influenced by a minority of decisions which took an unusually lengthy amount of time.

Strangely, and in spite of the above statistic, the proportion of local housing applications with decisions within just two months increased by 1.8% in 2018-19, from 54.9% in 2017-18 to 56.7%.

Comparatively, the average decision times for 207 Major Developments in 2018-19 was more than a week faster than the previous year at 32.5 weeks, while the duration for 2017-18 averaged at 33.6 weeks.

Similarly, to the figure for Local Developments, the number of Major Development decisions in Scotland in 2018-19 has likewise decreased by 2%, this proportion equalling six applications, while a further 36% of major applications were subject to processing agreements, the 36% translating to 118 applications.

Furthermore, major housing application decisions were decided in an average of 35.1 weeks, measuring more than 3 weeks faster than 2017-18 in which the duration was 38.2 weeks, and is now the quickest annual decision time since 2012-13.

Ultimately the overall rate of approvals for all types of applications in Scotland in 2018-19 was 93.7% whereas the delegation rate was 95.8%, the highest rate since 2012-13.

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