Planning Approval Rate in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 89.5% of applications and decides 86.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #134 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in North Yorkshire, 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 Yorkshire Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 4,687 decisions (4,193 granted, 494 refused).
How North Yorkshire compares
| North Yorkshire | 89.5% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber average | 87.4% |
| England average | 87% |
North Yorkshire is 2.5 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in North Yorkshire?
North Yorkshire is a little more approving than the median English authority, granting 89.5% of the applications it decides (rank 134th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 89.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within Yorkshire and the Humber it is the 6th most approving of 15 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.4%. Refusals are uncommon here: 494 of its 4,687 decisions were refusals (10.5%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 87.7% of major developments approved versus 91.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 179 major decisions.
On timing it is a little slower than average, deciding 86.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 4,687 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its Yorkshire and the Humber neighbours it sits between Kingston upon Hull, City of (91.5%, more approving) and East Riding of Yorkshire (89.4%, stricter). For context in Yorkshire and the Humber, North East Lincolnshire approves the most (95.3%) and Rotherham the least (79.9%).
Compare North Yorkshire 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 Yorkshire
Live planning activity in North Yorkshire Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 20 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in North Yorkshire Council
Where planning activity concentrates in North Yorkshire Council
Recent applications in North Yorkshire Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch North Yorkshire page.
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Planning permission in North Yorkshire: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in North Yorkshire?
On the latest official figures North Yorkshire is close to the England average and a little more approving than the median English authority, approving 89.5% of the 4,687 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does North Yorkshire approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 89.5% approved and 10.5% refused — 4,193 granted and 494 refused of 4,687 decisions, with major schemes approved at 87.7% and householder and other work at 91.3%.
How quickly does North Yorkshire decide planning applications?
On timing North Yorkshire is a little slower than average: 86.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is North Yorkshire stricter than nearby councils?
North Yorkshire's 89.5% approval rate makes it the 6th most approving of 15 authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber, against a 87.4% regional average. Neighbouring Kingston upon Hull, City of approves 91.5% and East Riding of Yorkshire 89.4%.
Can I use North Yorkshire's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application North Yorkshire 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 Yorkshire 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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