Planning decisions in Dumfries

How long Dumfries takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,368 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.

49 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 53 from receipt
66%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 89% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 90%): 1,189 approved, 90 refused, 56 withdrawn
90 of 388UK rank for speed, down 5 places on last year; 149 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 96 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 122 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 109 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 58 days, 118 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 94 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 47 days, 136 decisionsMarApril 2026: 53 days, 94 decisionsAprMay 2026: 46 days, 123 decisionsMayJune 2026: 49 days, 136 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 102 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 62 days, 98 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 58 days, 140 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 applications5459%94%71349 of 359
Prior approvals20100%98%14423 of 340
Listed building consent5747%94%131140 of 307
Discharge of conditions4858%95%11496 of 310
Amendments1989%83%1075 of 356
Outline applications6743%73%3854 of 111
Lawful development certificates2081%88%2612 of 348
Advertisement consent *4975%96%2440 of 320
Tree works *4196%100%24183 of 324

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%4893%1,308
Planning committee3%9483%36

Where the register states how the decision was made. 24 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 far5356%93%1,041

* 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 388 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.