Major residential planning applications are now taking 50% longer to process in just over a year to be processed, according to new data.

It means applicants are now waiting for over a year – up from 39 to 60 weeks – and in spite of a 29% fall in the number of major housing applications decided and against a statutory timeframe of 16 weeks.

Trade body Homes for Scotland says the figures for 2023/24 show a planning service which is “under-resourced and ill-equipped” to deal with Scotland’s escalating housing emergency.

The average timeframe for processing small housing applications increased by two weeks to 19 against a statutory benchmarke of eight. There was a 27% decrease in the number of applications decided.

Compounding Scotland’s escalating housing emergency is the fact that none of the  local authorities with declared local housing emergencies had average processing times within the statutory timeframes for either local or major housing applications.

HFS chief executive Jane Wood said: “Today’s planning processing figures only confirm what the sector already knows: our planning system is poorly resourced and ill-equipped to deal with the policy implications of National Planning Framework 4 which is seeing land supply for new homes fall off a cliff.

“With the next Scottish Budget under a month away, today’s statistics should prove a timely reminder to the Scottish Government of the consequences of cutting the Planning Budget by 43%.”

Scottish Labour Housing spokesperson Mark Griffin said “These stark figures must be a wake-up call for the SNP government.

“Our country is in the grips of a housing emergency, but major housing developments are stuck in limbo for over a year waiting for a decision.

“Elsewhere in the UK, Labour is reforming planning in order to boost housebuilding and deliver growth.

“The SNP must show the same ambition for Scotland and set out plans for a more efficient planning system, as well delivering fair funding for local government next year.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry said: “We need to fix the problems with our planning system because that is one of the key ways we can lift up our economy and tackle the housing crisis.”