Planning Approval Rate in Adur
Adur is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 92.3% of applications and decides 95.8% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #85 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Adur, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Adur District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 310 decisions (286 granted, 24 refused).
How Adur compares
| Adur | 92.3% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Adur is 5.3 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Adur?
Adur is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 92.3% of the applications it decides (rank 85th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 92.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 17th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 24 of its 310 decisions were refusals (7.7%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 95.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 7 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.8% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 310 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Test Valley (92.5%, more approving) and Medway (91.6%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Adur with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Adur
Live planning activity in Adur District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 2 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Adur District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Adur District Council
Recent applications in Adur District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Adur page.
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Planning permission in Adur: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Adur?
On the latest official figures Adur is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 92.3% of the 310 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Adur approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 92.3% approved and 7.7% refused — 286 granted and 24 refused of 310 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 95.4%.
How quickly does Adur decide planning applications?
On timing Adur is a little faster than average: 95.8% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Adur stricter than nearby councils?
Adur's 92.3% approval rate makes it the 17th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Test Valley approves 92.5% and Medway 91.6%.
Can I use Adur's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Adur decided, not a prediction for any individual application; your outcome depends on the site, the proposal, local planning policy and any objections.
Methodology & limits
Approval, refusal and in-time rates come from the government's official PS2 planning application statistics (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government), covering 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. This dataset is England-only and published annually, so it lags live activity. Live figures are the applications PlanWatch has collected for Adur District Council and are not a complete council register. Refusal reasons and delegated-vs-committee splits are not published in this data.
This is a historic average, not a prediction. It cannot tell you whether your application will be approved — that depends on your site, proposal, local policy and any objections.
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