Planning Approval Rate in Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 88.7% of applications and decides 82.3% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #157 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Brighton and Hove: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Brighton and Hove planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,710 decisions (1,517 granted, 193 refused).
How Brighton and Hove compares
| Brighton and Hove | 88.7% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Brighton and Hove is 1.7 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Brighton and Hove?
Brighton and Hove is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 88.7% of the applications it decides (rank 157th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 88.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 34th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 193 of its 1,710 decisions were refusals (11.3%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 93.1% of major developments approved versus 91.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 29 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 82.3% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,710 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 Thanet (88.9%, more approving) and East Hampshire (88.3%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Brighton and Hove with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Brighton and Hove
Live planning activity in Brighton and Hove
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 12 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Brighton and Hove
Where planning activity concentrates in Brighton and Hove
Recent applications in Brighton and Hove
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Brighton and Hove planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Brighton and Hove: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Brighton and Hove?
On the latest official figures Brighton and Hove is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 88.7% of the 1,710 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Brighton and Hove approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 88.7% approved and 11.3% refused — 1,517 granted and 193 refused of 1,710 decisions, with major schemes approved at 93.1% and householder and other work at 91.2%.
How quickly does Brighton and Hove decide planning applications?
On timing Brighton and Hove is among the slower authorities: 82.3% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Brighton and Hove stricter than nearby councils?
Brighton and Hove's 88.7% approval rate makes it the 34th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Thanet approves 88.9% and East Hampshire 88.3%.
Can I use Brighton and Hove's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Brighton and Hove 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 Brighton and Hove 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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