Planning Approval Rate in Burnley
Burnley is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.7% of applications and decides 94% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #170 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Burnley: 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 Burnley planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 300 decisions (263 granted, 37 refused).
How Burnley compares
| Burnley | 87.7% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Burnley is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Burnley?
Burnley is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.7% of the applications it decides (rank 170th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 17th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 37 of its 300 decisions were refusals (12.3%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 81.8% of major developments approved versus 91.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 22 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 300 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 Oldham (88.2%, more approving) and Bury (87.6%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Burnley with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Burnley
Live planning activity in Burnley Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 8 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Burnley Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Burnley Borough Council
Recent applications in Burnley Borough Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Burnley planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Burnley: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Burnley?
On the latest official figures Burnley is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.7% of the 300 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Burnley approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.7% approved and 12.3% refused — 263 granted and 37 refused of 300 decisions, with major schemes approved at 81.8% and householder and other work at 91.8%.
How quickly does Burnley decide planning applications?
On timing Burnley is a little faster than average: 94% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Burnley stricter than nearby councils?
Burnley's 87.7% approval rate makes it the 17th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Oldham approves 88.2% and Bury 87.6%.
Can I use Burnley's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Burnley 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 Burnley 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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