Planning decisions in Mid Sussex

How long Mid Sussex takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,125 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.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 55 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 87% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 1,882 approved, 119 refused, 111 withdrawn
133 of 388UK rank for speed, down 72 places on last year; 113 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 51 days, 178 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 187 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 51 days, 179 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 175 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 141 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 53 days, 178 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 206 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 151 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 177 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 180 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 54 days, 185 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 188 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 applications5665%94%632121 of 200
Tree works3693%99%497120 of 324
Discharge of conditions5453%99%276180 of 310
Full applications6645%87%203237 of 359
Lawful development certificates5282%84%178174 of 348
Amendments4873%91%158184 of 356
Listed building consent6445%89%65191 of 307
Prior approvals3689%95%59177 of 340
Advertisement consent5076%97%3049 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5194%1,988
Planning committee1%17089%19

Where the register states how the decision was made. 118 decisions did not say.

Appeals

57 appeals against Mid Sussex decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 48 for every 100 refusals; 35% were allowed. Every appeal in Mid Sussex.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6335%98%71
2017 *5656%100%46
2018 *6234%95%105
2019 *2876%70%36
2020 *7133%98%67
2021 *3080%80%26
2022 *4583%95%233
2023 *4960%96%451
2024 *5559%96%27
2025 *2787%92%40
2026 so far5654%94%1,581

* 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 Mid Sussex's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Mid Sussex, appeals, or get alerts for Mid Sussex.

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.