Planning decisions in South Downs

How long South Downs takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,168 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); 64 from receipt
56%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 78% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 90%): 2,730 approved, 191 refused, 162 withdrawn
308 of 388UK rank for speed, down 251 places on last year; 134 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 57 days, 240 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 59 days, 238 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 233 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 68 days, 228 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 77 days, 208 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 72 days, 329 decisionsMarApril 2026: 59 days, 315 decisionsAprMay 2026: 65 days, 288 decisionsMayJune 2026: 64 days, 292 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 63 days, 303 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 68 days, 227 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 73 days, 267 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 applications6344%93%739173 of 200
Tree works4373%98%667226 of 324
Discharge of conditions5358%99%488165 of 310
Listed building consent7134%93%320226 of 307
Full applications7535%88%286291 of 359
Prior approvals2677%90%22960 of 340
Amendments5559%90%223284 of 356
Lawful development certificates5559%80%115257 of 348
Advertisement consent5659%78%27223 of 320
Other *2093%100%195 of 35

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5694%3,141
Planning committee1%14885%21

Where the register states how the decision was made. 6 decisions did not say.

Appeals

94 appeals against South Downs decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 49 for every 100 refusals; 30% were allowed. Every appeal in South Downs.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6830%90%384
2017 *6720%90%42
2018 *7319%92%37
2019 *6642%87%31
2020 *4292%64%27
2021 *2686%86%60
2022 *7715%88%26
2023 *2595%93%61
2024 *6723%88%26
2025 *3377%84%200
2026 so far6640%93%2,457

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

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.