Planning Approval Rate in Northumberland National Park
Northumberland National Park is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 94.6% of applications and decides 100% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #30 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Northumberland National Park, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Northumberland National Park.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 37 decisions (35 granted, 2 refused).
How Northumberland National Park compares
| Northumberland National Park | 94.6% |
| National Parks average | 91.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Northumberland National Park is 7.6 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Northumberland National Park?
Northumberland National Park is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 94.6% of the applications it decides (rank 30th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 94.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within National Parks it is the most approving of 10 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 2 of its 37 decisions were refusals (5.4%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 90% of householder and other small-scale work, from 1 major decision.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 100% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 37 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. It is more approving than its nearest National Parks peer by rank, North York Moors National Park (94.4%). At the other end of National Parks, Peak District National Park is the strictest authority, approving 86.5%.
Compare Northumberland National Park with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in National Parks. See the full National Parks league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Northumberland National Park
Embed this stat
Free to embed on your site with a credit link to PlanWatch:
Planning permission in Northumberland National Park: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Northumberland National Park?
On the latest official figures Northumberland National Park is somewhat more approving than the England average and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 94.6% of the 37 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Northumberland National Park approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 94.6% approved and 5.4% refused — 35 granted and 2 refused of 37 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 90%.
How quickly does Northumberland National Park decide planning applications?
On timing Northumberland National Park is among the faster authorities: 100% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Northumberland National Park stricter than nearby councils?
Northumberland National Park's 94.6% approval rate makes it the most approving of 10 authorities in National Parks, against a 91.2% regional average. Neighbouring North York Moors National Park approves 94.4%.
Can I use Northumberland National Park's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Northumberland National Park 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 National Park 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 · National Parks league table
Track live decisions in Northumberland National Park
Set a free alert and get emailed when a planning application near you is decided.
See planning in Northumberland National ParkRelated: tree surveys in Northumberland National Park · all applications