Planning Approval Rate in Northumberland
Northumberland is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 88.7% of applications and decides 92.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #156 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Northumberland: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Northumberland planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,923 decisions (1,705 granted, 218 refused).
How Northumberland compares
| Northumberland | 88.7% |
| North East average | 91.7% |
| England average | 87% |
Northumberland is 1.7 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Northumberland?
Northumberland is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 88.7% of the applications it decides (rank 156th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 88.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North East it is the 13th most approving of 14 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.7%. Refusals are uncommon here: 218 of its 1,923 decisions were refusals (11.3%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 87.2% of major developments approved versus 91.1% of householder and other small-scale work, from 94 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 92.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,923 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North East neighbours it sits between Middlesbrough Development Corporation (89%, more approving) and Middlesbrough (77.2%, stricter). For context in North East, Redcar and Cleveland approves the most (96.7%) and Middlesbrough the least (77.2%).
Compare Northumberland with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North East. See the full North East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Northumberland
Live planning activity in Northumberland
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 12 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Northumberland
Where planning activity concentrates in Northumberland
Recent applications in Northumberland
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Northumberland planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Northumberland: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Northumberland?
On the latest official figures Northumberland is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 88.7% of the 1,923 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Northumberland approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 88.7% approved and 11.3% refused — 1,705 granted and 218 refused of 1,923 decisions, with major schemes approved at 87.2% and householder and other work at 91.1%.
How quickly does Northumberland decide planning applications?
On timing Northumberland is about average on speed: 92.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Northumberland stricter than nearby councils?
Northumberland's 88.7% approval rate makes it the 13th most approving of 14 authorities in North East, against a 91.7% regional average. Neighbouring Middlesbrough Development Corporation approves 89% and Middlesbrough 77.2%.
Can I use Northumberland's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Northumberland 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 Northumberland 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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