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Decision times · Scotland

How long planning decisions take in Moray

83 days. Ranked 310 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Moray took 83 days from submission to decision — 27 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 537 decisions where the council published both dates.

83 days
Median decision 27 days beyond the eight week target
310 of 343
UK rank up 10 places in a year
30%
Within eight weeks 56% within thirteen
177 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Moray compares

Year to September 2026

Moray takes longer than the country as a whole: 27 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 30%.

The average here is 98 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 177 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 162 30%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 140 26%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 235 44%

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.

Moray: 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 83 310 of 343
June 2026 82 308 of 328
March 2026 91 230 of 243
December 2025 140 223 of 236
September 2025 164 320 of 324
June 2025 117 302 of 313
March 2025 81 285 of 315
December 2024 77 287 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 164 days, Moray has moved up 10 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. Prior approval 44 decided 31 days
  2. Outline 15 decided 51 days
  3. Lawful development 10 decided 65 days
  4. Advertising 11 decided 76 days
  5. Heritage and listed buildings 62 decided 77 days
  6. Full applications 383 decided 92 days

How these types compare nationally

What Moray decides

Year to September 2026

Moray issued 537 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 97% were approvals: 470 granted against 13 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 Moray?

The median planning application decided by Moray in the year to September 2026 took 83 days from submission to decision, 27 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 537 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 310 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Moray meet the eight week target?

30% of the 537 decisions Moray made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 56% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 177 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Moray faster or slower than average?

Moray is slower than average: its median of 83 days is 27 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Moray getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 164 days, Moray has moved up 10 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 81 days.

What proportion of applications does Moray approve?

97% of the clear-cut outcomes Moray issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 470 granted against 13 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Moray planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 83 days from application to decision (27 days beyond the eight week target), across 537 decisions with both dates published. 30% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 56% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 177 days. Ranked 310 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 97% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.