Planning decisions in Midlothian

How long Midlothian takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 542 decisions it made in the twelve months to October 2026. Days run from validation to decision, the clock the council reports against; the wait from receipt is shown beside it. Methodology.

58 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 64 from receipt
47%decided within eight weeks (UK 65%), 82% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 490 approved, 33 refused, 17 withdrawn
331 of 389UK rank for speed, down 87 places on last year; 122 of 389 for approvals
056 November 2025: 57 days, 38 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 67 days, 56 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 65 days, 32 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 66 days, 39 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 59 days, 43 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 50 decisionsAprMay 2026: 60 days, 35 decisionsMayJune 2026: 74 days, 54 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 77 days, 62 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 63 days, 33 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 63 days, 34 decisionsSeptOctober 2026: 62 days, 66 decisionsOct
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 applications6037%94%306196 of 361
Tree works20100%98%8822 of 324
Listed building consent6316%93%47181 of 316
Lawful development certificates5750%84%38317 of 348
Advertisement consent *5353%100%19111 of 325
Discharge of conditions *22513%100%16311 of 311
Prior approvals *2879%100%14101 of 339

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5794%528
Planning committee2%248100%9

Where the register states how the decision was made. 5 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4964%98%48
2017 *3770%83%42
2018 *5066%97%37
2019 *3880%96%26
2020 *15100%99%86
2021 *4272%87%41
2022 *6121%89%52
2023 *7022%98%51
2024 *1599%100%88
2025 *5842%94%104
2026 so far6436%94%448

* 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 Midlothian's planning register. Ranks are among the 389 published councils. See planning applications in Midlothian, or get alerts for Midlothian.

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.