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Decision times · Scotland

How long planning decisions take in Fife

45 days. Ranked 15 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Fife took 45 days from submission to decision — 11 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,611 decisions where the council published both dates.

45 days
Median decision 11 days inside the eight week target
15 of 343
UK rank up 307 places in a year
64%
Within eight weeks 87% within thirteen
104 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Fife compares

Year to September 2026

Fife decides faster than the country as a whole: 11 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 64%.

The average here is 55 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 104 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,660 64%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 605 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 346 13%

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.

Fife: 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 45 15 of 343
June 2026 43 19 of 328
March 2026 40 13 of 243
December 2025 42 39 of 236
September 2025 169 322 of 324
June 2025 122 304 of 313
March 2025 57 153 of 315
December 2024 46 18 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 169 days, Fife has moved up 307 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 330 decided 2 days
  2. Lawful development 178 decided 18 days
  3. Prior approval 77 decided 20 days
  4. Trees 144 decided 28 days
  5. Conditions 420 decided 36 days
  6. Amendments 22 decided 37 days
  7. Outline 60 decided 37 days
  8. Advertising 61 decided 49 days
  9. Full applications 995 decided 60 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 300 decided 63 days

How these types compare nationally

What Fife decides

Year to September 2026

Fife issued 2,611 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 96% were approvals: 2,091 granted against 87 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 Fife?

The median planning application decided by Fife in the year to September 2026 took 45 days from submission to decision, 11 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,611 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 15 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Fife meet the eight week target?

64% of the 2,611 decisions Fife made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 87% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 104 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Fife faster or slower than average?

Fife is faster than average: its median of 45 days is 11 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Fife getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 169 days, Fife has moved up 307 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 124 days.

What proportion of applications does Fife approve?

96% of the clear-cut outcomes Fife issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,091 granted against 87 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Fife planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 45 days from application to decision (11 days inside the eight week target), across 2,611 decisions with both dates published. 64% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 87% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 104 days. Ranked 15 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 96% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.