The time taken to make planning decisions has increased by 162 days across some areas of Britain claims a firm sourcing development sites.

Searchland says Richmondshire council in north Yorkshire takes the longest at an average of 415 days.

The firm’s data tracks the average planning decision time in days on a quarterly basis across each local planning authority in Britain 

The Brecon Beacons National Park LPA was the second longest with respect to making planning related decisions in 2024, taking an average of 400 days.

South Somerset ranks third with an average time of 398 days, followed by Stockton-on-Tees (376), Middlesbrough (340), Monmouthshire (340), Liverpool (334), Broadland (323), Bracknell Forest (319), South Norfolk (319) and Darlington (313).

Carlisle LPA has seen the largest annual increase in the time required to make a planning decision, with an increase of 163 days in the last year alone.

Broadland LPA sits second with a 130 day increase, followed by Brecon Beacons National Park (+124), South Norfolk (+116), West Dunbartonshire (+115), South Somerset (+112), Stockton-on-Tees (+109), Darlington (+105), Harlow (+99) and Crawley (+91).

A Searchland spokesperson says: “Earlier this year the government pledged to implement sweeping reforms to help cut the red tape from the planning process, improving the speed at which planning decisions are approved.

“It’s clear that such reforms are badly needed as around half of all planning authorities have seen the time taken to make a planning decision increase on an annual basis.

“If Labour has any chance of hitting the ambitious housing delivery targets set last year, addressing the initial bottleneck caused by the planning decision process is vital.”