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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Mid Sussex

55 days. Ranked 6 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Mid Sussex took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,692 decisions where the council published both dates.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
6 of 45
UK rank First measured window
56%
Within eight weeks 81% within thirteen
132 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Mid Sussex compares

Year to December 2026

Mid Sussex decides faster than the country as a whole: 2 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 56%.

The average here is 80 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 132 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 948 56%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 415 25%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 329 19%

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.

Mid Sussex: 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 55 6 of 45
September 2026 53 10 of 56
June 2026 52 11 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. Other 17 decided 27 days
  2. Trees 190 decided 38 days
  3. Amendments 67 decided 51 days
  4. Lawful development 77 decided 52 days
  5. Conditions 134 decided 53 days
  6. Advertising 11 decided 55 days
  7. Householder 302 decided 58 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 25 decided 60 days
  9. Full applications 82 decided 81 days

How these types compare nationally

What Mid Sussex decides

Year to December 2026

Mid Sussex issued 1,692 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 1,485 granted against 102 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 Mid Sussex?

The median planning application decided by Mid Sussex in the year to December 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,692 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 6 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Mid Sussex meet the eight week target?

56% of the 1,692 decisions Mid Sussex made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 81% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 132 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Mid Sussex faster or slower than average?

Mid Sussex is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 2 days below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Mid Sussex approve?

94% of the clear-cut outcomes Mid Sussex issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,485 granted against 102 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Mid Sussex planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 1,692 decisions with both dates published. 56% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 81% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 132 days. Ranked 6 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 94% 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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