Planning decisions in Highland

How long Highland takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,167 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.

53 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 67 from receipt
58%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 87% within thirteen
97%approved (UK 89%): 963 approved, 29 refused, 46 withdrawn
193 of 321UK rank for speed, up 122 places on last year; 33 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 54 days, 121 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 62 days, 157 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 67 days, 152 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 62 days, 223 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 22 days, 10 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 47 days, 74 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 63 days, 163 decisionsMarApril 2026: 64 days, 162 decisionsAprMay 2026: 72 days, 162 decisionsMayJune 2026: 72 days, 209 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 72 days, 206 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 73 days, 181 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 applications (including householder)5653%97%704231 of 302
Prior approvals2788%94%13333 of 168
Lawful development certificates3982%94%7544 of 253
Outline applications5931%100%4326 of 39
Listed building consent6041%100%37147 of 200
Advertisement consent *3979%100%256 of 190
Amendments *5160%100%16219 of 263
Discharge of conditions *5254%100%13116 of 175

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5397%1,066
Planning committee1%11971%15

Where the register states how the decision was made. 86 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 far6733%97%1,167

* 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 321 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.