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South Downs National Park

National Parks · E26000010 · 53 quarters held (2013 Q2 – 2026 Q2)

Decisions
1,616
2025 Q3 – 2026 Q2
Refusal rate
8.7%
higher than 31% of authorities
Majors in time
66.7%
threshold 60%
Minors in time
77.4%
threshold 70%
Householder in time
83.6%
no formal threshold
Delegated
97.5%
decisions not to committee
Appellant win rate
29.7%
102 allowed of 343 decided
Decisions overturned
1.0%
quality threshold 10%

Refusal rate trend — last 40 quarters

2016 Q3 → 2026 Q2 · peak 14.7%

Official statistics — is development moving through the system?

MHCLG quarterly planning returns (PS1/PS2), last 4 quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, and the government's latest Housing Delivery Test. These are the authority's own statutory returns, not our scrape.

Applications received
1,711
in the window
Applications decided
1,616
in the window
Approval rate
91.3%
1,476 granted, 140 refused · national median refusal 11.6%
Refusal rate rank 4 of 9 national park authorities (1 = fewest refusals) · peer median 9.0%
Decided within time
79.6%
rank 263 of 307 reporting authorities · national median 91.4%
Rank 8 of 9 national park authorities · peer median 87.4%

Peer ranks compare only national park authorities with more than 50 decisions in the window, the same floor as the national rank. A rank among peers is the fairer read: types of authority carry very different caseloads.

Performance by development type
TypeDecisionsApprovedIn time
Major3987.2%66.7%
Minor35190.0%77.4%
Other1,22691.8%—
of which householder81392.1%83.6%
"In time" = within the statutory period or an agreed extension, excluding prior approvals. "Other" covers everything that is neither major nor minor; householder figures are measured against the 8-week period.
Applications through the system
Last 8 quarters held
02434852024 Q3: 474 received2024 Q3: 485 decided2024 Q32024 Q4: 477 received2024 Q4: 459 decided2025 Q1: 484 received2025 Q1: 414 decided2025 Q2: 455 received2025 Q2: 419 decided2025 Q3: 431 received2025 Q3: 400 decided2025 Q4: 391 received2025 Q4: 423 decided2026 Q1: 463 received2026 Q1: 397 decided2026 Q2: 426 received2026 Q2: 396 decided2026 Q2
▬ received   ▬ decided
Housing Delivery Test

Not measured for this authority in the latest HDT release (county-matter, national park or recently merged authorities are not all listed).

Where these figures come from. Each dataset below is the publisher's own file, loaded unchanged; rows are matched to this authority by its ONS code (E26000010). Missing values are shown as "—" and are never estimated or filled from another period.
DatasetPublisherCovers this authorityLoadedOfficial source
Planning application decisions (PS2)MHCLG2013 Q2 to 2026 Q2 (53 quarters)18 Oct 2026 · 68,583 rows nationallyLive tables
Planning application flow (PS1)MHCLG2013 Q2 to 2026 Q2 (53 quarters)18 Oct 2026 · 42,861 rows nationallyLive tables
Housing Delivery Test 2025MHCLGnot measured for this authority18 Aug 2026Measurement
Open Government Licence v3.0. The MHCLG tables are reloaded every Sunday; the loaded date is the last successful run.

Quarterly history

QuarterDecisions GrantedRefused Refusal %Majors in time Minors in timeReceived
2026 Q2 396 352 44 11.1% 0.0% 85.3% 426
2026 Q1 397 361 36 9.1% 100.0% 67.9% 463
2025 Q4 423 392 31 7.3% — 88.2% 391
2025 Q3 400 371 29 7.3% 50.0% 57.9% 431
2025 Q2 419 389 30 7.2% 100.0% 57.7% 455
2025 Q1 414 369 45 10.9% 0.0% 80.6% 484
2024 Q4 459 395 64 13.9% 66.7% 77.1% 477
2024 Q3 485 420 65 13.4% 100.0% 66.7% 474
2024 Q2 496 442 54 10.9% 66.7% 78.7% 485
2024 Q1 464 416 48 10.3% 100.0% 86.7% 502
2023 Q4 473 435 38 8.0% 100.0% 73.8% 512
2023 Q3 519 474 45 8.7% 100.0% 89.5% 504
2023 Q2 485 438 47 9.7% 100.0% 72.7% 531
2023 Q1 471 426 45 9.6% 33.3% 67.4% 541
2022 Q4 582 521 61 10.5% 66.7% 76.3% 577
2022 Q3 576 520 56 9.7% 50.0% 65.9% 559
2022 Q2 503 457 46 9.1% 66.7% 70.0% 576
2022 Q1 513 477 36 7.0% 83.3% 60.5% 629
2021 Q4 548 492 56 10.2% 100.0% 59.0% 553
2021 Q3 551 513 38 6.9% 50.0% 72.5% 637
2021 Q2 605 561 44 7.3% 100.0% 59.4% 650
2021 Q1 513 470 43 8.4% 100.0% 54.1% 710
2020 Q4 543 505 38 7.0% 50.0% 60.0% 614
2020 Q3 490 452 38 7.8% 54.5% 81.3% 639
2020 Q2 470 453 17 3.6% 100.0% 79.2% 536
2020 Q1 486 445 41 8.4% 50.0% 73.8% 579
2019 Q4 545 509 36 6.6% 100.0% 71.7% 540
2019 Q3 548 504 44 8.0% 100.0% 71.7% 607
2019 Q2 554 488 66 11.9% 50.0% 81.4% 664
2019 Q1 607 548 59 9.7% 75.0% 78.6% 605
2018 Q4 582 512 70 12.0% 100.0% 81.4% 673
2018 Q3 647 572 75 11.6% 77.8% 76.5% 631
2018 Q2 654 572 82 12.5% 83.3% 67.5% 718
2018 Q1 543 463 80 14.7% 66.7% 81.1% 697
2017 Q4 640 555 85 13.3% 88.9% 74.7% 645
2017 Q3 605 554 51 8.4% 100.0% 71.7% 636
2017 Q2 636 556 80 12.6% 50.0% 86.7% 702
2017 Q1 580 521 59 10.2% 50.0% 80.8% 782
2016 Q4 601 538 63 10.5% 60.0% 75.0% 606
2016 Q3 712 636 76 10.7% 100.0% 79.8% 660
2016 Q2 678 622 56 8.3% 33.3% 79.1% 798
2016 Q1 558 501 57 10.2% 50.0% 65.5% 722
2015 Q4 629 548 81 12.9% 25.0% 79.0% 663
2015 Q3 665 598 67 10.1% 50.0% 64.1% 727
2015 Q2 635 564 71 11.2% 80.0% 55.8% 670
2015 Q1 620 547 73 11.8% 40.0% 46.8% 683
2014 Q4 609 544 65 10.7% 42.9% 45.2% 712
2014 Q3 687 625 62 9.0% 28.6% 54.8% 670
2014 Q2 615 545 70 11.4% 22.2% 65.0% 825
2014 Q1 525 452 49 9.3% 70.0% 57.0% 696
2013 Q4 556 480 54 9.7% 37.5% 64.2% 631
2013 Q3 617 536 51 8.3% 57.1% 66.1% 665
2013 Q2 668 572 68 10.2% 60.0% 68.1% 719

Decisions and speed: MHCLG planning application statistics (PS1/PS2), Open Government Licence v3.0, 2025 Q3 – 2026 Q2. Speed figures exclude prior approvals and are measured against the statutory period or agreed extension. Appeal figures: our aggregation of published Planning Inspectorate decisions, 2021–2026 — a different period from the decision figures above. Designation thresholds shown are indicative, not official.

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