Quick answer: Research published on 23 October 2026 by the Home Builders Federation (HBF), with Paragon Development Finance, found that only 50.8% of applications to discharge planning conditions were determined within the statutory period (56 days, or 16 weeks where an EIA is required). The median determination time in 2025/26 was 70 days, about a quarter longer than the target. Performance varies enormously: some authorities decide more than 75% on time, others as few as 18%.
What the research found
The HBF gathered submission and determination data through Freedom of Information requests covering three years. The headline figures:
- 50.8% of discharge applications were decided within the statutory eight weeks.
- The on-time rate has been falling: 55.6% in 2023/24, 51.8% in 2024/25.
- The median determination time in 2025/26 was 70 days.
- The spread between councils is wide: 18% on time at the bottom, over 75% at the top.
The HBF links the problem to capacity. Its earlier research found 90% of planning departments operating below full strength, and it estimates 2,660 additional planning officers are needed across England and Wales.
Why it matters for technical evidence
Pre-commencement conditions have to be cleared before work starts. On a typical residential permission that often includes surface water drainage, and increasingly energy, water efficiency and overheating evidence. If the discharge takes 70 days rather than 56, that is two extra weeks of capital tied up before a spade goes in. The HBF says small and medium-sized builders feel this most, because holding and financing costs bite harder and a delay can make a scheme unviable.
A 70-day median also means about half of applications take longer than that. Treat the statutory eight weeks as a best case, not a plan.
What the HBF wants
The report recommends a national framework for tracking and reporting authorities’ discharge performance, monitoring the effect of the national default planning fee, proper staffing and resourcing, and quick introduction of standardised model conditions.
What you can do now
Nothing in the research changes what an officer will accept, but a few habits reduce the chance of a stalled application:
- Submit early. Lodge discharge applications as soon as the technical evidence is final, not when the programme needs the answer.
- Make the pack self-contained. From 31 October, condition discharge is always an officer decision, made on the papers. Anything an officer has to chase is time lost.
- Keep the evidence consistent. Numbers that differ between the energy, water and drainage documents generate queries, and queries restart the clock on goodwill if not on the statutory period.
- Know your authority. If your council is at the slow end, build the extra weeks into the programme from day one.
If you want a second pair of eyes on the energy and compliance evidence before it goes to the council, get in touch and we will check it for consistency first.
Source: HBF: Half of local planning authorities failing to discharge planning conditions within the statutory timeframe (23 October 2026).