Burnley planning approval rate
Burnley council approved 87.3% of planning applications and refused 12.7%, based on 220 decisions analysed.
Last updated: September 2026 · Based on every decision on record, June 2025 to April 2026
87.27%
overall approval rate
Planning in Burnley?
Check your postcode to see approval rates specific to your ward and street.
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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 220 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 (32 decided)
90.6%
Hapton With Park (25 decided)
76.0%
Trinity (24 decided)
95.8%
Coal Clough With Deerplay (22 decided)
90.9%
Briercliffe (21 decided)
85.7%
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 recent comparable decisions. See more in the full report →
What gets approved near your property?
In Burnley, 1 in 8 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 220 decisions.
Compare with nearby councils
Frequently asked questions about planning in Burnley
What is the planning approval rate in Burnley?
Based on 220 planning decisions analysed since 2020, Burnley approved 87.3% of applications and refused 12.7%.
How many planning applications are refused in Burnley?
Burnley refuses 12.7% of planning applications, roughly 1 in 8. That is close to the UK average of 12.57%. Out of 220 decided applications since 2020, 28 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 typically take 7.7 weeks from validation to decision: the median across 305 applications decided since January 2020 with both dates on record. That is inside 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 37 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 220 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.