Planning Approval Rate in North East Lincolnshire
North East Lincolnshire is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 95.3% of applications and decides 98.9% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #19 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in North East Lincolnshire, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across North East Lincolnshire.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 468 decisions (446 granted, 22 refused).
How North East Lincolnshire compares
| North East Lincolnshire | 95.3% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber average | 87.4% |
| England average | 87% |
North East Lincolnshire is 8.3 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in North East Lincolnshire?
North East Lincolnshire is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 95.3% of the applications it decides (rank 19th of 310). That puts it markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council — 95.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within Yorkshire and the Humber it is the most approving of 15 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.4%. Refusals are rare here: 22 of its 468 decisions were refusals (4.7%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 96.6% of major developments approved versus 96% of householder and other small-scale work, from 29 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 98.9% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 468 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. It is more approving than its nearest Yorkshire and the Humber peer by rank, Barnsley (93.4%). At the other end of Yorkshire and the Humber, Rotherham is the strictest authority, approving 79.9%.
Compare North East Lincolnshire with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber. See the full Yorkshire and the Humber league table.
Approval rate by development scale in North East Lincolnshire
Live planning activity in North East Lincolnshire
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 5 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in North East Lincolnshire
Where planning activity concentrates in North East Lincolnshire
Recent applications in North East Lincolnshire
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch North East Lincolnshire page.
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Planning permission in North East Lincolnshire: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in North East Lincolnshire?
On the latest official figures North East Lincolnshire is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 95.3% of the 468 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does North East Lincolnshire approve or refuse?
Refusals are rare here: 95.3% approved and 4.7% refused — 446 granted and 22 refused of 468 decisions, with major schemes approved at 96.6% and householder and other work at 96%.
How quickly does North East Lincolnshire decide planning applications?
On timing North East Lincolnshire is among the faster authorities: 98.9% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is North East Lincolnshire stricter than nearby councils?
North East Lincolnshire's 95.3% approval rate makes it the most approving of 15 authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber, against a 87.4% regional average. Neighbouring Barnsley approves 93.4%.
Can I use North East Lincolnshire's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application North East Lincolnshire 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 North East Lincolnshire 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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