Planning decisions in Highland

How long Highland takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,565 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); 72 from receipt
48%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 77% within thirteen
97%approved (UK 90%): 2,127 approved, 74 refused, 136 withdrawn
333 of 388UK rank for speed, down 213 places on last year; 42 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 63 days, 157 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 67 days, 153 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 67 days, 219 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 76 days, 179 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 75 days, 224 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 69 days, 226 decisionsMarApril 2026: 70 days, 220 decisionsAprMay 2026: 74 days, 199 decisionsMayJune 2026: 77 days, 273 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 72 days, 225 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 81 days, 200 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 75 days, 290 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%1,597196 of 359
Prior approvals2588%99%27152 of 340
Outline applications8622%91%13980 of 110
Lawful development certificates4078%94%11652 of 348
Listed building consent *8522%100%107272 of 307
Advertisement consent4371%100%5313 of 320
Amendments5946%98%43327 of 356
Discharge of conditions6824%100%25283 of 310
Other *5943%83%2430 of 35

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5797%2,421
Planning committee2%14974%56

Where the register states how the decision was made. 88 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5846%100%44
2017 *6037%97%79
2018 *4868%99%70
2019 *5655%100%40
2020 *4492%100%26
2021 *7330%100%55
2022 *8019%100%36
2023 *10613%98%42
2024 *5655%100%65
2025 *5750%95%47
2026 so far7427%96%2,036

* 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 Highland's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Highland, or get alerts for Highland.

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.