How likely is my planning application to get approved in Brighton and Hove?

Plenty of homeowners in Brighton and Hove assume planning permission is a formality — something you apply for, wait eight weeks, and receive. Most are surprised to discover that what gets approved on one street can be refused on the next, and that the reasons why are rarely obvious from the outside.

The rules aren't just about what you want to build. They're about where your property sits, what's happened nearby, and a set of constraints that most homeowners have never heard of. Tools like WhatCanIBuild exist precisely because the answer to "will this get approved?" isn't the same for every house in BN1 or BN3.

Conservation areas cover more of Brighton than most people realise

With 32 designated conservation areas, Brighton and Hove has extensive heritage coverage. That means a significant number of homes — terraces, semis, Victorian villas — sit in streets where external alterations are far more tightly controlled than the standard rules suggest.

Most homeowners don't realise they're in a conservation area until they've already made plans. And even if you know you're in one, that doesn't tell you what it actually means for your specific project. The character of each conservation area differs. What Brighton and Hove City Council considers acceptable in one area may be refused in another — and the distinction isn't always written down anywhere obvious.

The South Downs border changes things for some properties

Brighton and Hove borders the South Downs National Park, and properties in or near that boundary sit on what's known as Article 1(5) land. This restricts permitted development rights — the automatic freedoms most homeowners rely on to avoid needing permission in the first place.

If your postcode is on or near that edge — parts of BN1 and BN2 in particular — you may need permission for work that a homeowner a mile away could do without applying at all. Most homeowners don't know which side of that line they're on.

What gets approved nearby isn't always a guide for your property

It's tempting to look at the extension next door and assume yours will sail through. But planning decisions are made on individual applications, individual properties, individual circumstances. A different facing material, a slightly different position, a marginally larger footprint — any of these can shift the outcome.

The harder question isn't "do extensions get approved in Brighton?" It's "what's been approved and refused on streets like mine, for projects like mine, and why?" That's the kind of insight that changes how you approach an application — and it's not something you can easily piece together from a council website.

WhatCanIBuild shows you what's actually been approved and refused near your property, what your specific combination of constraints looks like, and what approval odds for your project type look like in your area. That's a very different starting point than guessing.

The £548 question

A householder application in Brighton and Hove costs £548. That's before any design fees, pre-application advice, or the cost of a refused application and resubmission. Going in without understanding your actual odds isn't just uncertain — it's expensive.

The best way to know where you stand before spending anything is to check your property first. WhatCanIBuild gives you a property-specific picture in minutes — not a general guide to Brighton planning, but what applies to your address.