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Decision times · Scotland

How long planning decisions take in Aberdeen City

56 days. Ranked 18 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Aberdeen City took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 812 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
18 of 45
UK rank First measured window
51%
Within eight weeks 74% within thirteen
164 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Aberdeen City compares

Year to December 2026

Aberdeen City decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 51%.

The average here is 76 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 164 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 412 51%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 189 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 211 26%

The last few years

Each row is a full twelve months of decisions, ending in the quarter shown

Rolling twelve month windows overlap by nine months, so this reads as a trend rather than as four separate quarters. Only windows our records reach far enough back to measure in full are listed.

Aberdeen City: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 56 18 of 45
September 2026 53 12 of 56
June 2026 49 5 of 39

By type of application

Year to December 2026 · types with at least ten decisions

The headline median mixes every kind of application together. A householder extension and an outline application for a housing site are not the same job, and the difference between them is usually larger than the difference between two councils.

  1. Telecoms 64 decided 13 days
  2. Trees 99 decided 15 days
  3. Prior approval 21 decided 16 days
  4. Lawful development 14 decided 34 days
  5. Advertising 65 decided 56 days
  6. Full applications 323 decided 68 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 95 decided 71 days
  8. Conditions 10 decided 190 days

How these types compare nationally

What Aberdeen City decides

Year to December 2026

Aberdeen City issued 812 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 93% were approvals: 701 granted against 56 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes sit outside that percentage rather than being counted as either.

Speed and approval rate are separate things. A council that refuses quickly is not doing the same job as one that negotiates an approval slowly, and neither figure alone says which served the applicant better.

Common questions

How long does a planning decision take in Aberdeen City?

The median planning application decided by Aberdeen City in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 812 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 18 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Aberdeen City meet the eight week target?

51% of the 812 decisions Aberdeen City made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 74% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 164 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Aberdeen City faster or slower than average?

Aberdeen City is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Aberdeen City approve?

93% of the clear-cut outcomes Aberdeen City issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 701 granted against 56 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Aberdeen City planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 812 decisions with both dates published. 51% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 74% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 164 days. Ranked 18 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 93% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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