Planning decisions in Horsham

How long Horsham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,513 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); 63 from receipt
61%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 85% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 90%): 2,228 approved, 166 refused, 81 withdrawn
289 of 388UK rank for speed, down 40 places on last year; 145 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 62 days, 165 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 60 days, 189 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 251 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 64 days, 239 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 65 days, 190 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 57 days, 203 decisionsMarApril 2026: 63 days, 211 decisionsAprMay 2026: 65 days, 237 decisionsMayJune 2026: 64 days, 190 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 69 days, 232 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 62 days, 159 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 68 days, 247 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 applications5676%98%607108 of 200
Tree works5747%99%412306 of 324
Discharge of conditions5657%97%384224 of 310
Full applications8129%78%329306 of 359
Amendments5666%95%251294 of 356
Prior approvals2991%91%200107 of 340
Lawful development certificates5680%89%137272 of 348
Listed building consent5664%95%8683 of 307
Section 106 and planning obligations6736%96%3215 of 29
Advertisement consent5659%81%27221 of 320
Outline applications8831%35%2783 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5693%1,130
Planning committee1%10392%12

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,371 decisions did not say.

Appeals

98 appeals against Horsham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 59 for every 100 refusals; 31% 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 far6442%92%1,908

* 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 388 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.