Planning decisions in Aberdeenshire

How long Aberdeenshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,765 decisions it made in the twelve months to September 2026. Days run from validation to decision, the clock the council reports against; the wait from receipt is shown beside it. How the figures are made.

57 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 63 from receipt
50%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 81% within thirteen
96%approved (UK 90%): 1,508 approved, 67 refused, 93 withdrawn
329 of 388UK rank for speed, down 266 places on last year; 59 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 59 days, 134 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 60 days, 144 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 57 days, 145 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 66 days, 129 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 64 days, 136 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 74 days, 141 decisionsMarApril 2026: 59 days, 124 decisionsAprMay 2026: 63 days, 179 decisionsMayJune 2026: 64 days, 174 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 62 days, 134 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 70 days, 158 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 70 days, 167 decisionsSept
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (54 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications5941%97%1,085197 of 359
Prior approvals2295%97%19834 of 340
Listed building consent6628%91%126204 of 307
Tree works3696%96%116118 of 324
Advertisement consent5166%100%4774 of 320
Amendments5842%97%34324 of 356
Outline applications1108%65%3496 of 110
Lawful development certificates4968%90%32129 of 348
Reserved matters *6025%81%1611 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5796%1,572
Planning committee3%16383%47

Where the register states how the decision was made. 146 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6335%99%79
2017 *3783%94%105
2018 *4370%100%28
2019 *6418%99%86
2020 *8116%100%114
2021 *7014%96%89
2022 *5943%100%54
2023 *4160%90%310
2024 *5748%100%48
2025 *5739%100%49
2026 so far6534%95%1,342

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Aberdeenshire's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Aberdeenshire, or get alerts for Aberdeenshire.

About these figures

How are decision times measured?
Days from the date the council validated the application to the date it decided it, for applications approved or refused in the window. That is the clock councils report against and the official statistics use. Each council’s page also shows the count from receipt, which is what the applicant actually waited. Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.
Why do these figures differ from the council’s own?
Councils count an agreed extension of time as decided on time; we treat the calendar as the calendar. Our figures are also live and rolling, where official statistics are quarterly and annual. So a council’s own within-eight-weeks figure will usually sit a little above ours.
What counts as approved?
Approval rate is approvals divided by approvals plus refusals. Withdrawals, and decisions whose outcome the register does not state, are counted in the totals but not in the rate.
Why is a council missing?
A council is published when it has at least 25 timed decisions in the window and its register’s decision data passes our consistency checks. Councils that fail are listed with the reason rather than shown with a number that would mislead.
How often is this updated?
Nightly, from the decisions we collect from every council register we monitor. The window is the twelve months to the last complete month.