Skip to content
PlanIndex Get alerts
Menu

Decision times · East of England

How long planning decisions take in North Norfolk

57 days. Ranked 23 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by North Norfolk took 57 days from submission to decision — 1 day beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,227 decisions where the council published both dates.

57 days
Median decision 1 day beyond the eight week target
23 of 45
UK rank down 2 places in a year
48%
Within eight weeks 71% within thirteen
203 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How North Norfolk compares

Year to December 2026

North Norfolk sits exactly on the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 48%.

The average here is 97 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 203 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 595 48%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 279 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 353 29%

The last few years

Each row is a full twelve months of decisions, ending in the quarter shown

Rolling twelve month windows overlap by nine months, so this reads as a trend rather than as four separate quarters. Only windows our records reach far enough back to measure in full are listed.

North Norfolk: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 57 23 of 45
September 2026 60 41 of 56
March 2026 175 37 of 38
December 2025 129 21 of 24
September 2025 56 7 of 27
June 2025 49 2 of 31
March 2025 49 1 of 30

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 129 days, North Norfolk has moved down 2 places in the table.

By type of application

Year to December 2026 · types with at least ten decisions

The headline median mixes every kind of application together. A householder extension and an outline application for a housing site are not the same job, and the difference between them is usually larger than the difference between two councils.

  1. Trees 130 decided 33 days
  2. Amendments 41 decided 54 days
  3. Advertising 11 decided 57 days
  4. Lawful development 35 decided 63 days
  5. Heritage and listed buildings 69 decided 70 days
  6. Conditions 70 decided 78 days
  7. Householder 151 decided 85 days
  8. Outline 16 decided 95 days
  9. Full applications 128 decided 149 days

How these types compare nationally

What North Norfolk decides

Year to December 2026

North Norfolk issued 1,227 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 97% were approvals: 866 granted against 31 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes sit outside that percentage rather than being counted as either.

Speed and approval rate are separate things. A council that refuses quickly is not doing the same job as one that negotiates an approval slowly, and neither figure alone says which served the applicant better.

Common questions

How long does a planning decision take in North Norfolk?

The median planning application decided by North Norfolk in the year to December 2026 took 57 days from submission to decision, 1 day beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,227 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 23 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does North Norfolk meet the eight week target?

48% of the 1,227 decisions North Norfolk made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 71% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 203 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is North Norfolk faster or slower than average?

North Norfolk sits exactly on the national median of 57 days.

Is North Norfolk getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 129 days, North Norfolk has moved down 2 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 72 days.

What proportion of applications does North Norfolk approve?

97% of the clear-cut outcomes North Norfolk issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 866 granted against 31 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

North Norfolk planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 57 days from application to decision (1 day beyond the eight week target), across 1,227 decisions with both dates published. 48% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 71% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 203 days. Ranked 23 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 97% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

Embed these figures

Paste either snippet into your page. Click a snippet to select all of it. The credit line is part of the embed.

<script src="https://planindex.co.uk/embed/decision-times.js" data-council="north-norfolk" defer></script>

If your CMS strips scripts, use the frame directly:

<iframe src="https://planindex.co.uk/embed/decision-times/north-norfolk" title="Planning decision times in North Norfolk" width="100%" height="215" loading="lazy" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Data: <a href="https://planindex.co.uk/planning-decision-times/north-norfolk">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>