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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Arun

56 days. Ranked 15 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Arun took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 993 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
15 of 45
UK rank First measured window
53%
Within eight weeks 88% within thirteen
100 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Arun compares

Year to December 2026

Arun decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 53%.

The average here is 64 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 100 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 524 53%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 345 35%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 124 12%

The last few years

Each row is a full twelve months of decisions, ending in the quarter shown

Rolling twelve month windows overlap by nine months, so this reads as a trend rather than as four separate quarters. Only windows our records reach far enough back to measure in full are listed.

Arun: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 56 15 of 45
September 2026 56 23 of 56
June 2026 53 13 of 39

By type of application

Year to December 2026 · types with at least ten decisions

The headline median mixes every kind of application together. A householder extension and an outline application for a housing site are not the same job, and the difference between them is usually larger than the difference between two councils.

  1. Amendments 66 decided 29 days
  2. Trees 129 decided 50 days
  3. Lawful development 15 decided 52 days
  4. Outline 69 decided 52 days
  5. Conditions 262 decided 55 days
  6. Advertising 11 decided 57 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 24 decided 57 days
  8. Householder 50 decided 63 days
  9. Full applications 285 decided 65 days

How these types compare nationally

What Arun decides

Year to December 2026

Arun issued 993 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 84% were approvals: 621 granted against 116 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes sit outside that percentage rather than being counted as either.

Speed and approval rate are separate things. A council that refuses quickly is not doing the same job as one that negotiates an approval slowly, and neither figure alone says which served the applicant better.

Common questions

How long does a planning decision take in Arun?

The median planning application decided by Arun in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 993 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 15 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Arun meet the eight week target?

53% of the 993 decisions Arun made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 88% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 100 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Arun faster or slower than average?

Arun is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Arun approve?

84% of the clear-cut outcomes Arun issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 621 granted against 116 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Arun planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 993 decisions with both dates published. 53% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 88% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 100 days. Ranked 15 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 84% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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