Planning Approval Rate in Blackburn with Darwen
Blackburn with Darwen is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 94.4% of applications and decides 100% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #34 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Blackburn with Darwen: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Blackburn with Darwen planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 500 decisions (472 granted, 28 refused).
How Blackburn with Darwen compares
| Blackburn with Darwen | 94.4% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Blackburn with Darwen is 7.4 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Blackburn with Darwen?
Blackburn with Darwen is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 94.4% of the applications it decides (rank 34th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 94.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 6th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are uncommon here: 28 of its 500 decisions were refusals (5.6%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 90.5% of major developments approved versus 94.9% of householder and other small-scale work, from 21 major decisions.
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 500 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North West neighbours it sits between South Ribble (94.6%, more approving) and St. Helens (93.9%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Blackburn with Darwen with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Blackburn with Darwen
Live planning activity in Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 5 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Recent applications in Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Blackburn with Darwen planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Blackburn with Darwen: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Blackburn with Darwen?
On the latest official figures Blackburn with Darwen is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 94.4% of the 500 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Blackburn with Darwen approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 94.4% approved and 5.6% refused — 472 granted and 28 refused of 500 decisions, with major schemes approved at 90.5% and householder and other work at 94.9%.
How quickly does Blackburn with Darwen decide planning applications?
On timing Blackburn with Darwen 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 Blackburn with Darwen stricter than nearby councils?
Blackburn with Darwen's 94.4% approval rate makes it the 6th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring South Ribble approves 94.6% and St. Helens 93.9%.
Can I use Blackburn with Darwen's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Blackburn with Darwen 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 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 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.
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