Planning Approval Rate in Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 91.8% of applications and decides 96.8% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #92 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Great Yarmouth, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 376 decisions (345 granted, 31 refused).
How Great Yarmouth compares
| Great Yarmouth | 91.8% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Great Yarmouth is 4.8 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Great Yarmouth?
Great Yarmouth is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 91.8% of the applications it decides (rank 92nd of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 91.8% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 11th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are uncommon here: 31 of its 376 decisions were refusals (8.2%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 94.1% of householder and other small-scale work, from 16 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 96.8% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 376 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East of England neighbours it sits between East Suffolk (92.2%, more approving) and West Suffolk (91%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Great Yarmouth with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East of England. See the full East of England league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Great Yarmouth
Live planning activity in Great Yarmouth Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 18 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Great Yarmouth Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Great Yarmouth Borough Council
Recent applications in Great Yarmouth Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Great Yarmouth page.
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Planning permission in Great Yarmouth: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Great Yarmouth?
On the latest official figures Great Yarmouth is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 91.8% of the 376 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Great Yarmouth approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 91.8% approved and 8.2% refused — 345 granted and 31 refused of 376 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 94.1%.
How quickly does Great Yarmouth decide planning applications?
On timing Great Yarmouth is among the faster authorities: 96.8% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Great Yarmouth stricter than nearby councils?
Great Yarmouth's 91.8% approval rate makes it the 11th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring East Suffolk approves 92.2% and West Suffolk 91%.
Can I use Great Yarmouth's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Great Yarmouth 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 Great Yarmouth Borough 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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