Planning decisions in Horsham

How long Horsham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,076 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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 52); 56 from receipt
66%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 89% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 89%): 925 approved, 79 refused, 19 withdrawn
267 of 321UK rank for speed, down 1 place on last year; 144 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 72 days, 213 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 64 days, 190 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 64 days, 228 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 276 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 14 days, 5 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 41 days, 44 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 161 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 193 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 214 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 163 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 165 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 131 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications (including householder)5664%89%355187 of 302
Discharge of conditions5659%98%189153 of 175
Tree works5650%99%173247 of 259
Amendments5673%96%105243 of 263
Prior approvals2999%83%9648 of 168
Lawful development certificates5683%86%61215 of 253
Listed building consent5661%100%40104 of 200
Other *18100%100%1814 of 41
Outline applications *5655%18%1224 of 39
Advertisement consent *5655%73%11157 of 190

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5692%948
Planning committee1%10291%11

Where the register states how the decision was made. 117 decisions did not say.

Appeals

89 appeals against Horsham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 113 for every 100 refusals; 30% were allowed. Every appeal in Horsham.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6831%89%49
2017 *23100%100%43
2018 *2893%100%30
2019 *5559%94%307
2020 *7033%93%30
2021 *2890%100%31
2022 *2894%100%33
2023 *2499%over 99%238
2024 *2884%100%37
2025 *867%86%29
2026 so far5666%92%1,076

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Horsham's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Horsham, appeals, or get alerts for Horsham.

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.