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Decision times · Scotland

How long planning decisions take in Aberdeen City

55 days. Ranked 105 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Aberdeen City took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 818 decisions where the council published both dates.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
105 of 343
UK rank down 56 places in a year
53%
Within eight weeks 77% within thirteen
140 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Aberdeen City compares

Year to September 2026

Aberdeen City decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 53%.

The average here is 70 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 140 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 430 53%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 200 24%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 188 23%

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
September 2026 55 105 of 343
June 2026 49 43 of 328
March 2026 42 23 of 243
December 2025 35 15 of 236
September 2025 46 49 of 324
June 2025 57 162 of 313
March 2025 57 165 of 315
December 2024 57 170 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 46 days, Aberdeen City has moved down 56 places in the table.

By type of application

Year to September 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 62 decided 8 days
  2. Trees 96 decided 15 days
  3. Prior approval 29 decided 18 days
  4. Lawful development 15 decided 49 days
  5. Advertising 58 decided 57 days
  6. Full applications 431 decided 62 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 96 decided 65 days
  8. Conditions 10 decided 179 days

How these types compare nationally

What Aberdeen City decides

Year to September 2026

Aberdeen City issued 818 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 93% were approvals: 690 granted against 53 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 September 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 818 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 105 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Aberdeen City meet the eight week target?

53% of the 818 decisions Aberdeen City made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 77% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 140 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 55 days is 1 day below the national median of 56 days.

Is Aberdeen City getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 46 days, Aberdeen City has moved down 56 places in the table. Its median has risen by 9 days.

What proportion of applications does Aberdeen City approve?

93% of the clear-cut outcomes Aberdeen City issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 690 granted against 53 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Aberdeen City planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 818 decisions with both dates published. 53% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 77% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 140 days. Ranked 105 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 93% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.