Statistics on annual and quarterly planning performance in Scotland, released yesterday by Scotland’s Chief Statistician, found that the average decision time for local development decisions in 2018-19 matched the quickest average decision time since 2012-13, while major development decisions were also quicker on average.

The average decision time for 25,244 local developments in 2018-19 was 9.0 weeks, matching the time for the previous year which was the quickest annual decision time since the start of this data collection in 2012-13.

Local housing applications were decided in an average of 12.3 weeks, slightly slower than the previous year (12.2 weeks), but which follows five years of annual decreases in average times prior to this.

The average decision time was influenced by a small number of applications with lengthy decision times, the percentage of local housing applications with decisions within two months has increased by 1.8 percentage points from 54.9% in 2017-18 to 56.7% in 2018-19.

The average decision time for 207 major developments in 2018-19 was 32.5 weeks, just over a week quicker than the average of 33.6 weeks in the previous year. Major housing applications were decided in an average of 35.1 weeks, more than three weeks quicker than the previous year (38.2 weeks) and the quickest annual decision time since the start of this data collection in 2012-13.

For the year 2018-19, the overall rate of approvals for all types of applications was 93.7%. The delegation rate was 95.8%, the highest rate since the start of this data collection in 2012-13.

Despite the improvements, trade body SBF said decisions are “still taking far too long”.

Managing director Vaughan Hart said: “Clearly, it’s encouraging that the average time taken to determine major planning applications in Scotland has reduced over the past 12 months, falling from 33.6 weeks to 32.5 weeks. Then furthermore it is encouraging to see the approval rate was 93.7%. The delegation rate was 95.8%, the highest rate since the start of this data collection in 2012-13.

“However, there is a continued perception that overall, planning authorities are still taking far too long to take a decision on large scale developments of all kinds. It’s an unwelcome additional barrier for the construction industry when building contractors up and down the country are having to wait almost eight months from a planning application being submitted to being able to start work on-site. With so much economic uncertainty around at the current time, streamlining the planning process is one concrete way that government at all levels could be helping to keep the Scottish construction industry ticking.”

Key findings for the year 2018-19 (figures exclude pre-3rd August 2009 legacy cases)

Reduction in the number of planning applications decided in 2018-19 compared with previous years.

• the number of local development decisions in 2018-19 totalled 27,373, a decrease of 2% (518 applications) from the previous year
• the number of major development decisions in 2018-19 totalled 325, a decrease of 2% (6 applications) from 2017-18
• the number of applications that were subject to processing agreements increased by 29% from 2,106 in 2017-18 to 2,716 in 2018 -19. There were 2,129 local applications (8% of all local applications) and 118 major applications (36% of all major applications) subject to processing agreements in 2018-19

The overall average decision time for local development applications equalled the quickest annual decision time since the start of this data collection in 2012-13.

• decision times for local development applications not subject to processing agreements matched the 2017- 18 annual average decision time of 9.0 weeks, the quickest since the start of this data collection in 2012-13
• improvements were seen in average decision times for householder applications as well as for applications for business and industry, minerals, waste management and other developments
• a total of 16 out of 34 planning authorities have reported improvements in their average decision time for local developments in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18

A decrease in average decision time for major developments that were not subject to a processing agreement.

• decision times for major development applications not subject to processing agreements were quicker by an average of just over a week compared with 2017-18 (32.5 weeks compared with 33.6 weeks in 2017-18)
• improvements were seen in average decision times for applications for housing, business and industry and electricity generation
• a total of 14 out of 29 planning authorities with major application decisions in both 2018-19 and 2017-18 have reported improvements in their average decision time for major developments since the previous year
• average figures based on a relatively small number of major development applications can be skewed by a few lengthy decisions. Almost two-thirds of major applications (136 of 207) in 2018-19 were decided in a time quicker than the average of 32.5 weeks.