Planning Approval Rate in Arun
Arun is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 85.6% of applications and decides 96.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #216 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Arun, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Arun District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 784 decisions (671 granted, 113 refused).
How Arun compares
| Arun | 85.6% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Arun is 1.4 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Arun?
Arun is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 85.6% of the applications it decides (rank 216th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 85.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 45th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 113 of its 784 decisions were refusals (14.4%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 66.7% of major developments approved versus 91.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 33 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 96.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 784 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 Bracknell Forest (86.3%, more approving) and Epsom and Ewell (85.4%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Arun with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Arun
Live planning activity in Arun District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 8 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Arun District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Arun District Council
Recent applications in Arun District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Arun page.
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Planning permission in Arun: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Arun?
On the latest official figures Arun is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 85.6% of the 784 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Arun approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 85.6% approved and 14.4% refused — 671 granted and 113 refused of 784 decisions, with major schemes approved at 66.7% and householder and other work at 91.4%.
How quickly does Arun decide planning applications?
On timing Arun is among the faster authorities: 96.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Arun stricter than nearby councils?
Arun's 85.6% approval rate makes it the 45th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Bracknell Forest approves 86.3% and Epsom and Ewell 85.4%.
Can I use Arun's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Arun 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 Arun 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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