Burnley planning approval rate
Burnley council approved 89.1% of planning applications and refused 10.9%, based on 294 decisions analysed. Ranked 105th out of 284 councils for strictness.
Last updated: June 2026 · Based on decisions from January 2020 to present
89.1%
overall approval rate
Planning in Burnley?
Check your postcode to see approval rates specific to your ward and street.
Approval rate by application type
Different application types have different approval rates in Burnley. 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 Burnley, mined from 294 proposal descriptions.
Approval rate by ward
Planning outcomes vary significantly by ward within Burnley. Click any ward for detailed statistics.
Daneshouse With Stoneyholme (51 decided)
96.1%
Cliviger With Worsthorne (31 decided)
90.3%
Hapton With Park (25 decided)
76.0%
Coal Clough With Deerplay (20 decided)
90.0%
Trinity (20 decided)
95.0%
Wards in Burnley
Recent comparable decisions
The most recent residential planning decisions in Burnley, showing how the council decides real applications.
Single storey rear extension with roof lantern over, single storey side extensio · Lanehead · Fri 10 Apr 2026
Single storey rear extension · Queensgate · Tue 31 Mar 2026
Dormer to rear roof slope · Briercliffe · Tue 31 Mar 2026
Showing 3 of 200 comparable decisions. See all 200 in the full report →
What gets approved near your property?
In Burnley, 1 in 9 applications are refused. 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 Burnley
✓ Your 10 nearest comparable planning decisions
✓ Appeal success rates
✓ PDF report to share with your architect
Free planning check for Burnley →
Free. Based on 294 decisions.
Compare with nearby councils
Frequently asked questions about planning in Burnley
What is the planning approval rate in Burnley?
Based on 294 planning decisions analysed since 2020, Burnley approved 89.1% of applications and refused 10.9%. The council is ranked 105th out of 284 UK councils for approval rate.
How many planning applications are refused in Burnley?
Burnley refuses 10.9% of planning applications, roughly 1 in 9. That is close to the UK average of 11.7%. Out of 294 decided applications since 2020, 32 were refused. PlanningLens lets you check any postcode to see which applications were refused near a specific property.
Which areas of Burnley have the highest planning approval rates?
The highest approval rates in Burnley are in Daneshouse With Stoneyholme (96.1%). Approval rates vary significantly by ward, see the full ward breakdown above.
What types of planning application are most common in Burnley?
The most common planning application types in Burnley are: Full (186 decisions, 88.2% approved), Trees (25, 96.0%), and Advertisement (21, 100.0%).
How long does a planning application take in Burnley?
Planning applications in Burnley take an average of 10.6 weeks to reach a decision, measured across 289 decisions with a recorded timeline. That is slower than the 8-week statutory target for householder applications (the statutory targets are 8 weeks for householder applications and 13 weeks for major developments). PlanningLens measures the actual time each application takes, not just the target. Burnley decides approximately 49 planning applications per year.
How do I check planning applications in Burnley?
You can search planning applications in Burnley directly on the council's official planning portal. PlanningLens also lets you check any postcode against 294 historical decisions in Burnley to see what's been approved and refused near a specific property.
How is PlanningLens approval rate data for Burnley calculated?
PlanningLens scrapes Burnley'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.