Research project on planning time and performance reports on the use of extensions of time in planning practice.

The report presents the main findings from a Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) early career research grant funded project on the subject of planning time and performance conducted by the University of Reading.

The research focusses on the use of Extensions of Time (EoTs) in the planning determination process in England. EoTs are typically negotiated to allow more time to determine a planning application beyond the statutory timescales and have become a frequently used tool available to planners and applicants. EoTs are used as a lens to evaluate the issues that additional time is trying to bridge and ‘fix’, such as planning resourcing and complexity. This topic provides a window into the operation of the planning system more generally to assist in understanding when, why and how issues and challenges are produced and managed in practice.

The report considers a range of planning symptoms that EoTs are masking in the decision-making process. Five main themes and recommendations emerge from the work, essentialised to questions of funding, scope, training, information and a need to understand these issues further via more research.

The project forms part of a wider research agenda and ongoing work on the role of time in and for planning being pursued at the University of Reading by Prof. Gavin Parker Gavin Parker | Henley Business School and Dr Mark Dobson Mark Dobson | Henley Business School (see Dobson and Parker, 2024; Parker and Dobson, 2025).

For more information email: m.e.dobson@reading.ac.uk