Although permission may be granted, many developers still face delays as approvals are not being granted for conditions
Just 50.8% of planning condition applications have been determined within the statutory eight-week timeframe, and it is only getting worse says the Home Builders Federation (HBF).
Local planning authorities (LPAs) that fail to discharge planning conditions are often causing delays to housing delivery as a result.
Lack of monitoring makes issues harder to solve
The research, conducted by the HBF with Paragon Bank Development Finance, has also found that there is a consistent lack in monitoring planning performance, making bottlenecks and ability to hold LPAs to account much more difficult.
Planning conditions are the requirements set by LPAs to grant planning permission, and must be met by developers at different stages of development, as well as be approved via submitting information at stages before work can continue.
Since pre-commencement conditions must be cleared to start work on-site, developments often find themselves delayed despite planning permission being given already.
The statutory timeframe of eight weeks, or 56 days, has been failed to be adhered to by nearly half of LPAs. With approval times varying by a wide margin, meaning developers are met with even more uncertainty in their projects.
The HBF research found that, in a three-year period:
- Only half of discharge condition applications (50.8%) were determined within the statutory eight-week timeframe
- Performance appears to be worsening year on year, with the percentage of applications being determined on time falling from 55.6% in 2023/4 to 51.8% in 2024/5
- The median determination time in 2025/26 was 70 days, 25% longer than the statutory target
- There was significant variation between local authorities, with some local authorities performing strongly against statutory targets (with more than 75% of discharge applications determined on time), while others met the deadline in just 18% of cases
HBF research shows further planning struggles
Last month, the HBF published figures showing that the number of new homes receiving planning permission has fallen by 21% in the preceding quarter.
This means that just 45,315 new homes received planning permission in Q2 2026, the lowest quarterly total since 2012. Furthermore, in the year to Q2 2026, permission was granted for 214,515 homes, the lowest annual total since 2013.
The effect was sharpest in larger developments, with approvals for homes on sites with more than 10 units falling 21% from the previous quarter to 39,689 in April to June, 14% below Q2 2025.
In private homes, quarter-on-quarter there was a drop of 19% and a drop of 15% year-on-year.
Read more about the report here.
The post Half of LPAs fail to discharge planning conditions in time, says HBF appeared first on Planning, Building & Construction Today.
