Planning Approval Rate in Melton
Melton is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 95.2% of applications and decides 80.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #20 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Melton, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Melton Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 293 decisions (279 granted, 14 refused).
How Melton compares
| Melton | 95.2% |
| East Midlands average | 89.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Melton is 8.2 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Melton?
Melton is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 95.2% of the applications it decides (rank 20th of 310). That puts it markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council — 95.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East Midlands it is the 5th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.8%. Refusals are rare here: 14 of its 293 decisions were refusals (4.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 91.3% of major developments approved versus 95.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 23 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 80.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 293 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East Midlands neighbours it sits between Amber Valley (95.7%, more approving) and Lincoln (95.1%, stricter). For context in East Midlands, North Kesteven approves the most (97.2%) and Oadby and Wigston the least (71.7%).
Compare Melton with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East Midlands. See the full East Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Melton
Live planning activity in Melton Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 7 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Melton Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Melton Borough Council
Recent applications in Melton Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Melton page.
Embed this stat
Free to embed on your site with a credit link to PlanWatch:
Planning permission in Melton: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Melton?
On the latest official figures Melton is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 95.2% of the 293 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Melton approve or refuse?
Refusals are rare here: 95.2% approved and 4.8% refused — 279 granted and 14 refused of 293 decisions, with major schemes approved at 91.3% and householder and other work at 95.3%.
How quickly does Melton decide planning applications?
On timing Melton is among the slower authorities: 80.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Melton stricter than nearby councils?
Melton's 95.2% approval rate makes it the 5th most approving of 35 authorities in East Midlands, against a 89.8% regional average. Neighbouring Amber Valley approves 95.7% and Lincoln 95.1%.
Can I use Melton's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Melton 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 Melton 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.
Download the data (JSON) · CSV · National league table · East Midlands league table
Track live decisions in Melton
Set a free alert and get emailed when a planning application near you is decided.
See planning in MeltonRelated: tree surveys in Melton · all applications