The latest internal data release from Searchland, the development site sourcing specialists, has revealed that the time taken to make planning decisions has increased by 162 days across some areas of the nation, whilst Richmondshire Local Planning Authority takes the longest at an average of 415 days.
Searchland’s data tracks the average planning decision time in days on a quarterly basis across each local planning authority in Britain, with the latest data release from the firm highlighting which took the longest to make their decisions over the last year, as well as which have seen the largest increase in the time required on an annual basis
Richmondshire LPA takes by far the longest
The figures show that when it comes to the average time to make planning decisions, Richmondshire’s local planning authority takes by far the longest time of all LPAs across Britain. In 2024, the average time to make a decision sat at a huge 415 days.
The Brecon Beacons National Park LPA was the second longest with respect to making planning-related decisions in 2024, taking an average of 400 days.
South Somerset ranks third in this respect with an average time of 398 days, whilst other LPAs within the top 10 include Stockton-on-Tees (376), Middlesbrough (340), Monmouthshire (340), Liverpool (334), Broadland (323), Bracknell Forest (319), South Norfolk (319) and Darlington (313).
Carlisle sees largest increase in time required to make a planning decision
No less than five of the top 10 LPAs boasting the longest planning decision times also sit within the top 10 to have seen the largest increases.
Carlisle LPA has seen the largest annual increase in the time required to make a planning decision, with an increase of 163 days in the last year alone.
Broadland LPA sits second with a 130-day increase, followed by Brecon Beacons National Park (+124), South Norfolk (+116), West Dunbartonshire (+115), South Somerset (+112), Stockton-on-Tees (+109), Darlington (+105), Harlow (+99) and Crawley (+91).
“Earlier this year, the government pledged to implement sweeping reforms to help cut the red tape from the planning process, improving the speed at which planning decisions are approved," comments Co-founder of Searchland, Hugh Gibbs, "It’s clear that such reforms are badly needed as around half of all planning authorities have seen the time taken to make a planning decision increase on an annual basis.
"If Labour has any chance of hitting the ambitious housing delivery targets set last year, addressing the initial bottleneck caused by the planning decision process is vital.”
