Planning decisions in South Downs

How long South Downs takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,525 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.

53 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 55 from receipt
66%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 87% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 89%): 1,198 approved, 85 refused, 70 withdrawn
188 of 322UK rank for speed, up 37 places on last year; 115 of 322 for approvals
056 September 2025: 57 days, 248 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 66 days, 283 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 60 days, 258 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 249 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 14 days, 18 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 38 days, 55 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 180 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 245 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 253 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 266 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 57 days, 272 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 65 days, 236 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
Tree works4281%98%309176 of 261
Householder applications5655%93%290127 of 158
Discharge of conditions4868%99%24185 of 178
Other *6100%100%1352 of 40
Prior approvals2762%88%13133 of 174
Listed building consent5946%92%119142 of 200
Amendments5266%90%95215 of 271
Full applications5749%89%84201 of 298
Lawful development certificates5569%80%51201 of 256
Advertisement consent *5467%75%1285 of 192

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5393%1,483
Planning committeeunder 1%3380%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 37 decisions did not say.

Appeals

77 appeals against South Downs decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 91 for every 100 refusals; 34% 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 far5555%93%1,525

* 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 322 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.