Approaching north-east, approaching a group (7)
I believe the answer is:
nearing
'approaching' is the definition.
('near' can be a synonym of 'approach')
'north-east approaching a group' is the wordplay.
'north east' becomes 'ne'.
'approaching' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'group' becomes 'ring'.
'ne'+'a'+'ring'='NEARING'
(Other definitions for nearing that I've seen before include "Drawing closer to" , "Getting close to" , "Moving towards" , "Approaching" .)