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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Arun

56 days. Ranked 148 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Arun took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 922 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
148 of 343
UK rank down 23 places in a year
56%
Within eight weeks 90% within thirteen
91 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Arun compares

Year to September 2026

Arun sits exactly on the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 56%.

The average here is 60 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 91 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 520 56%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 314 34%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 88 10%

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
September 2026 56 148 of 343
June 2026 53 88 of 328
March 2026 52 90 of 243
December 2025 50 104 of 236
September 2025 54 125 of 324
June 2025 55 100 of 313
March 2025 55 103 of 315
December 2024 55 101 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 54 days, Arun has moved down 23 places in the table.

By type of application

Year to September 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 73 decided 29 days
  2. Outline 85 decided 49 days
  3. Trees 160 decided 51 days
  4. Conditions 174 decided 53 days
  5. Advertising 17 decided 56 days
  6. Heritage and listed buildings 29 decided 57 days
  7. Full applications 347 decided 61 days

How these types compare nationally

What Arun decides

Year to September 2026

Arun issued 922 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 88% were approvals: 741 granted against 103 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 September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 922 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 148 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Arun meet the eight week target?

56% of the 922 decisions Arun made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 90% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 91 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 sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

Is Arun getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 54 days, Arun has moved down 23 places in the table. Its median has risen by 2 days.

What proportion of applications does Arun approve?

88% of the clear-cut outcomes Arun issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 741 granted against 103 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 September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 922 decisions with both dates published. 56% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 90% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 91 days. Ranked 148 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 88% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.