Planning Approval Rate in Bury
Bury is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.6% of applications and decides 99.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #171 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Bury, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Bury.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 777 decisions (681 granted, 96 refused).
How Bury compares
| Bury | 87.6% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Bury is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Bury?
Bury is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.6% of the applications it decides (rank 171st of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 18th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 96 of its 777 decisions were refusals (12.4%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 91.7% of major developments approved versus 90.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 24 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 99.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 777 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 Burnley (87.7%, more approving) and Manchester (87.2%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Bury with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Bury
Live planning activity in Bury
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Bury
Where planning activity concentrates in Bury
Recent applications in Bury
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Bury page.
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Planning permission in Bury: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Bury?
On the latest official figures Bury is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.6% of the 777 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Bury approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.6% approved and 12.4% refused — 681 granted and 96 refused of 777 decisions, with major schemes approved at 91.7% and householder and other work at 90.8%.
How quickly does Bury decide planning applications?
On timing Bury is among the faster authorities: 99.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Bury stricter than nearby councils?
Bury's 87.6% approval rate makes it the 18th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Burnley approves 87.7% and Manchester 87.2%.
Can I use Bury's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Bury 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 Bury 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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