Planning decisions in Kings Lynn

How long Kings Lynn takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,665 decisions it made in the twelve months to September 2026. Days run from validation to decision, the clock the council reports against; the wait from receipt is shown beside it. How the figures are made.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 54 from receipt
83%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 95% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 90%): 1,154 approved, 125 refused, 84 withdrawn
123 of 388UK rank for speed, down 106 places on last year; 221 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 31 days, 79 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 27 days, 50 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 29 days, 63 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 50 days, 95 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 120 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 54 days, 230 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 173 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 182 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 150 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 205 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 153 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 59 days, 165 decisionsSept
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (54 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications5580%88%56354 of 359
Tree works3583%95%339111 of 324
Prior approvals2196%91%15926 of 340
Amendments5081%91%103204 of 356
Lawful development certificates5480%81%82214 of 348
Listed building consent5583%98%4654 of 307
Advertisement consent5596%96%26147 of 320
Outline applications *5656%44%2531 of 110
Reserved matters *5571%93%166 of 44
Other *11100%100%122 of 35

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5290%1,163
Planning committee1%8053%15

Where the register states how the decision was made. 487 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5935%92%37
2017 *4279%97%90
2018 *2792%over 99%313
2019 *5652%97%68
2020 *4183%97%31
2021 *6935%88%34
2022 *3487%98%336
2023 *9516%58%42
2024 *6346%98%43
2025 *5560%72%193
2026 so far5656%89%1,473

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Kings Lynn's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Kings Lynn, appeals, or get alerts for Kings Lynn.

About these figures

How are decision times measured?
Days from the date the council validated the application to the date it decided it, for applications approved or refused in the window. That is the clock councils report against and the official statistics use. Each council’s page also shows the count from receipt, which is what the applicant actually waited. Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.
Why do these figures differ from the council’s own?
Councils count an agreed extension of time as decided on time; we treat the calendar as the calendar. Our figures are also live and rolling, where official statistics are quarterly and annual. So a council’s own within-eight-weeks figure will usually sit a little above ours.
What counts as approved?
Approval rate is approvals divided by approvals plus refusals. Withdrawals, and decisions whose outcome the register does not state, are counted in the totals but not in the rate.
Why is a council missing?
A council is published when it has at least 25 timed decisions in the window and its register’s decision data passes our consistency checks. Councils that fail are listed with the reason rather than shown with a number that would mislead.
How often is this updated?
Nightly, from the decisions we collect from every council register we monitor. The window is the twelve months to the last complete month.