Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-24812

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: 25 January 2024
Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 February 2024

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to determine a major housing development application has been in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority.

Answer

The average time taken to determine planning applications for major housing developments is provided Table 1.

Table 1 - Major housing applications not subject to a processing agreement
	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21
Planning Authority	Overall average time (weeks)	Overall average time (weeks)	Overall average time (weeks)
Aberdeen City	n/a	28.1	45.9
Aberdeenshire	17.0	38.4	n/a
Angus	22.9	n/a	36.1
Argyll and Bute	46.6	76.3	19.5
Cairngorms National Park	n/a	n/a	n/a
Clackmannanshire	6.4	43.4	514.1
Dumfries and Galloway	26.1	31.2	44.0
Dundee City	15.0	25.7	46.7
East Ayrshire	42.1	87.9	94.1
East Dunbartonshire	11.1	19.9	53.4
East Lothian	8.9	8.0	7.0
East Renfrewshire	59.7	31.4	59.7
City of Edinburgh	50.1	21.6	15.9
Falkirk	n/a	92.0	104.9
Fife	16.3	55.4	32.6
Glasgow City	31.9	39.7	42.3
Highland	82.9	118.0	31.8
Inverclyde	24.0	52.8	n/a
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park	n/a	n/a	66.4
Midlothian	50.2	17.0	99.3
Moray	n/a	n/a	12.7
Na h-Eileanan Siar	n/a	50.0	9.4
North Ayrshire	14.1	n/a	9.6
North Lanarkshire	32.6	52.8	28.3
Orkney Islands	20.3	n/a	n/a
Perth and Kinross	18.6	40.3	n/a
Renfrewshire	7.4	14.6	42.6
Scottish Borders	n/a	19.7	20.9
Shetland Islands	n/a	45.4	n/a
South Ayrshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Lanarkshire	51.9	62.3	130.9
Stirling	109.6	124.7	n/a
West Dunbartonshire	13.4	10.3	8.0
West Lothian	66.7	137.0	59.7
SCOTLAND	39.3	54.3	54.8

Note: Figures for the years 2020-21 and 2021-22 were impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and this should be borne in mind when comparing these to other years.

The figures in Table 1 do not include major housing applications subject to a processing agreement with the local authority. Where major housing applications were subject to a processing agreement, the percentage of applications where the agreed timescale was met, is set out in Table 2.

Table 2 - Major housing applications subject to a processing agreement
	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21
Planning Authority	% determined within agreed timescales	% determined within agreed timescales	% determined within agreed timescales
Aberdeen City	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Aberdeenshire	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Angus	0.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Argyll and Bute	n/a	n/a	n/a
Cairngorms National Park	n/a	n/a	n/a
Clackmannanshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	100.0%	n/a
Dundee City	n/a	n/a	n/a
East Ayrshire	n/a	100.0%	n/a
East Dunbartonshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
East Lothian	100.0%	n/a	100.0%
East Renfrewshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
City of Edinburgh	50.0%	0.0%	20.0%
Falkirk	100.0%	n/a	50.0%
Fife	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Glasgow City	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Highland	33.3%	100.0%	100.0%
Inverclyde	n/a	n/a	n/a
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park	n/a	n/a	n/a
Midlothian	0.0%	0.0%	n/a
Moray	33.3%	0.0%	0.0%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	n/a	n/a	n/a
North Ayrshire	100.0%	n/a	33.3%
North Lanarkshire	100.0%	33.3%	33.3%
Orkney Islands	n/a	n/a	n/a
Perth and Kinross	100.0%	66.7%	100.0%
Renfrewshire	n/a	0.0%	100.0%
Scottish Borders	100.0%	0.0%	100.0%
Shetland Islands	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Ayrshire	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
South Lanarkshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
Stirling	0.0%	n/a	n/a
West Dunbartonshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
West Lothian	0.0%	50.0%	50.0%
SCOTLAND	63.4%	48.9%	54.5%

Planning application statistics are published on a 6 monthly basis. Further information is available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/

See all of Mark Griffin's questions