East Lothian planning approval rate
Approval rate withheld for East Lothian. PlanningLens is temporarily withholding the headline approval rate for this council. The published record does not contain enough usable decision-date information to establish sufficiently complete and current coverage. This does not mean the previously shown percentage has been proved wrong. No official statistic is substituted in its place. Approval, refusal and rate figures are shown as – throughout this page. Decision volumes are unaffected and are still published. Why we withhold a rate
Last updated: September 2026 · Based on every decision on record, all on record
–%
overall approval rate
570
Decisions analysed
–
Approved
–
Refused
6
Wards covered
Planning in East Lothian? Check your postcode to see approval rates specific to your ward and street.
Planning professional? PlanningLens runs refusal alerts and evidence packs for East Lothian and any other published UK council — see the data services →
Approval rate by application type
Different application types have different approval rates in East Lothian. Householder and full planning applications typically have the highest volume.
–
Approval rate by project type
These rates are based on what homeowners are actually building in East Lothian, mined from 570 proposal descriptions.
–
Approval rate by ward
Planning outcomes vary significantly by ward within East Lothian. Click any ward for detailed statistics.
North Berwick Coastal
–
Haddington And Lammermuir
–
Dunbar
–
Musselburgh
–
Fa'side
–
Preston Seton And Gosford
–
Wards in East Lothian
North Berwick Coastal
– approval · 227 decisions
Haddington And Lammermuir
– approval · 171 decisions
Dunbar
– approval · 129 decisions
Musselburgh
– approval · 95 decisions
Fa'side
– approval · 85 decisions
Preston Seton And Gosford
– approval · 75 decisions
Recent comparable decisions
The most recent residential planning decisions in East Lothian, showing how the council decides real applications.
Replacement windows · Haddington And Lammermuir
Extension to house · Preston Seton And Gosford
Extension to house · North Berwick Coastal
Showing 3 recent comparable decisions. See more in the full report →
What gets approved near your property?
Your PlanningLens Full Planning Analysis gives you 17 pages of intelligence specific to your property:
✓ Ward-level approval rates for your exact area
✓ Common refusal reasons in East Lothian
✓ Your 10 nearest comparable planning decisions
✓ Appeal success rates
✓ PDF report to share with your architect
Free planning check for East Lothian →
✓ Common refusal reasons in East Lothian
✓ Your 10 nearest comparable planning decisions
✓ Appeal success rates
✓ PDF report to share with your architect
Free. Based on 570 decisions.
Compare with nearby councils
Frequently asked questions about planning in East Lothian
What is the planning approval rate in East Lothian?
PlanningLens is currently withholding the approval rate for East Lothian on data-quality grounds. PlanningLens is temporarily withholding the headline approval rate for this council. The published record does not contain enough usable decision-date information to establish sufficiently complete and current coverage. This does not mean the previously shown percentage has been proved wrong. No official statistic is substituted in its place.
How many planning applications are refused in East Lothian?
East Lothian refuses – of planning applications. That is close to the UK average of 12.57%. Out of 570 decided applications since 2020, – were refused. PlanningLens lets you check any postcode to see which applications were refused near a specific property.
Which areas of East Lothian have the highest planning approval rates?
The highest approval rates in East Lothian are in Haddington And Lammermuir (–), Preston Seton And Gosford (–), and North Berwick Coastal (–). Approval rates vary significantly by ward, see the full ward breakdown above.
What types of planning application are most common in East Lothian?
The most common planning application types in East Lothian are: Other (525 decisions, –% approved), Listed Building (120, –%), and Prior Approval (51, –%).
How long does a planning application take in East Lothian?
Most planning applications in East Lothian are decided within 8 weeks for householder applications and 13 weeks for major developments, the statutory targets set by central government. With 570 decisions analysed since 2020, East Lothian processes approximately 95 planning applications per year.
How do I check planning applications in East Lothian?
You can search planning applications in East Lothian directly on the council's official planning portal. PlanningLens also lets you check any postcode against 570 historical decisions in East Lothian to see what's been approved and refused near a specific property.
How is PlanningLens approval rate data for East Lothian calculated?
PlanningLens scrapes East Lothian's official planning portal and analyses every published decision since January 2020. The approval rate is calculated as approved decisions divided by total decided applications, excluding withdrawn and pending applications. The full methodology, data sourcing, and Creative Commons BY 4.0 licensing terms are published at planninglens.co.uk/methodology.