Planning decisions in Dumfries

How long Dumfries takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 830 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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.

41 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 45 from receipt
75%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 95% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 89%): 648 approved, 47 refused, 23 withdrawn
25 of 322UK rank for speed, down 3 places on last year; 119 of 322 for approvals
056 September 2025: 55 days, 131 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 55 days, 130 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 47 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 15 days, 40 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 1 days, 20 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 5 days, 67 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 44 days, 117 decisionsMarApril 2026: 51 days, 100 decisionsAprMay 2026: 45 days, 128 decisionsMayJune 2026: 49 days, 144 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 44 days, 126 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 128 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications5068%94%33925 of 298
Other0100%99%1391 of 40
Amendments1787%82%687 of 271
Listed building consent5357%89%6840 of 200
Discharge of conditions2870%95%604 of 178
Outline applications *6730%70%1430 of 40
Tree works *4290%100%10171 of 261

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%4194%803
Planning committee1%7864%11

Where the register states how the decision was made. 16 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4962%100%29
2017 *3180%100%35
2018 *4659%100%38
2019 *4366%90%30
2020 *19100%100%30
2021 *1593%100%30
2022 *6936%92%88
2023 *2394%100%32
2024 *3297%100%31
2025 *3292%100%38
2026 so far4567%93%830

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

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Dumfries's planning register. Ranks are among the 322 published councils. See planning applications in Dumfries, or get alerts for Dumfries.

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.