Decision times · South East
How long planning decisions take in Eastbourne
6 days.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Eastbourne took 6 days from submission to decision — 50 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 532 decisions where the council published both dates.
This council carries a figure but no rank
Not ranked: this council publishes a start date that behaves like a register entry date, not a receipt date — 90% of its decisions land within a week of it. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.
How Eastbourne compares
Year to September 2026
Eastbourne decides faster than the country as a whole: 50 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 99%.
The average here is 6 days. For planning around, 8 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 528 99%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 4 1%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 0 0%
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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 6 | — |
| June 2026 | 6 | — |
| March 2026 | 6 | — |
| December 2025 | 6 | — |
| September 2025 | 5 | — |
| June 2025 | 4 | — |
| March 2025 | 4 | — |
| December 2024 | 4 | — |
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.
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Trees 92 decided 4 days
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Householder 118 decided 5 days
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Outline 43 decided 5 days
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Telecoms 17 decided 5 days
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Amendments 26 decided 6 days
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Conditions 43 decided 6 days
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Full applications 121 decided 6 days
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Prior approval 15 decided 6 days
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Advertising 45 decided 7 days
What Eastbourne decides
Year to September 2026
Eastbourne issued 532 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 100% were approvals: 516 granted against 0 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 Eastbourne?
The median planning application decided by Eastbourne in the year to September 2026 took 6 days from submission to decision, 50 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 532 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.
Does Eastbourne meet the eight week target?
99% of the 532 decisions Eastbourne made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 100% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 8 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Eastbourne faster or slower than average?
Eastbourne is faster than average: its median of 6 days is 50 days below the national median of 56 days.
What proportion of applications does Eastbourne approve?
100% of the clear-cut outcomes Eastbourne issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 516 granted against 0 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
Click the text to select the whole citation.
Eastbourne planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 6 days from application to decision (50 days inside the eight week target), across 532 decisions with both dates published. 99% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 100% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 8 days. 100% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.