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Decision times · Scotland

How long planning decisions take in Fife

46 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Fife took 46 days from submission to decision — 10 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,306 decisions where the council published both dates.

This council carries a figure but no rank

Not ranked yet: our records do not yet pass the historical coverage, monthly continuity, missing-date and refresh checks for this window. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.

46 days
Median decision 10 days inside the eight week target
61%
Within eight weeks 84% within thirteen
112 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Fife compares

Year to December 2026

Fife decides faster than the country as a whole: 11 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 61%.

The average here is 58 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 112 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,406 61%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 529 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 371 16%

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
December 2024 53 12 of 57

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 289 decided 2 days
  2. Lawful development 139 decided 20 days
  3. Prior approval 81 decided 21 days
  4. Trees 104 decided 27 days
  5. Amendments 17 decided 33 days
  6. Conditions 391 decided 40 days
  7. Outline 53 decided 41 days
  8. Advertising 50 decided 44 days
  9. Full applications 890 decided 64 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 271 decided 66 days

How these types compare nationally

What Fife decides

Year to December 2026

Fife issued 2,306 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 96% were approvals: 1,848 granted against 85 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 December 2026 took 46 days from submission to decision, 10 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,306 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Fife meet the eight week target?

61% of the 2,306 decisions Fife made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 84% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 112 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 46 days is 11 days below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Fife approve?

96% of the clear-cut outcomes Fife issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,848 granted against 85 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Fife planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 46 days from application to decision (10 days inside the eight week target), across 2,306 decisions with both dates published. 61% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 84% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 112 days. 96% 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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