Planning decisions in Brighton And Hove

How long Brighton And Hove takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,910 decisions it made in the twelve months to September 2026. Days run from validation to decision, the clock the council reports against; the wait from receipt is shown beside it. How the figures are made.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 68 from receipt
56%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 82% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 1,744 approved, 101 refused, 58 withdrawn
304 of 388UK rank for speed, down 50 places on last year; 100 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 71 days, 8 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 55 days, 37 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 75 days, 58 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 63 days, 151 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 71 days, 173 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 58 days, 195 decisionsMarApril 2026: 62 days, 224 decisionsAprMay 2026: 63 days, 244 decisionsMayJune 2026: 66 days, 198 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 84 days, 213 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 71 days, 232 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 85 days, 177 decisionsSept
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (54 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Householder applications6147%97%276166 of 200
Tree works3194%99%26569 of 324
Full applications6640%86%262236 of 359
Lawful development certificates5655%98%210309 of 348
Discharge of conditions6941%99%139284 of 310
Amendments5358%96%79257 of 356
Prior approvals4975%89%72316 of 340
Listed building consent8420%96%70268 of 307
Advertisement consent7129%93%63297 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%6394%891
Planning committee2%11795%22

Where the register states how the decision was made. 997 decisions did not say.

Appeals

69 appeals against Brighton And Hove decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 68 for every 100 refusals; 29% were allowed. Every appeal in Brighton And Hove.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
20258233%91%167
2026 so far6837%95%1,807

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Brighton And Hove's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Brighton And Hove, appeals, or get alerts for Brighton And Hove.

About these figures

How are decision times measured?
Days from the date the council validated the application to the date it decided it, for applications approved or refused in the window. That is the clock councils report against and the official statistics use. Each council’s page also shows the count from receipt, which is what the applicant actually waited. Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.
Why do these figures differ from the council’s own?
Councils count an agreed extension of time as decided on time; we treat the calendar as the calendar. Our figures are also live and rolling, where official statistics are quarterly and annual. So a council’s own within-eight-weeks figure will usually sit a little above ours.
What counts as approved?
Approval rate is approvals divided by approvals plus refusals. Withdrawals, and decisions whose outcome the register does not state, are counted in the totals but not in the rate.
Why is a council missing?
A council is published when it has at least 25 timed decisions in the window and its register’s decision data passes our consistency checks. Councils that fail are listed with the reason rather than shown with a number that would mislead.
How often is this updated?
Nightly, from the decisions we collect from every council register we monitor. The window is the twelve months to the last complete month.