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Decision times · North West

How long planning decisions take in Burnley

54 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Burnley took 54 days from submission to decision — 2 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 203 decisions where the council published both dates.

This council carries a figure but no rank

Not ranked yet: our records do not yet pass the historical coverage, monthly continuity, missing-date and refresh checks for this window. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.

54 days
Median decision 2 days inside the eight week target
62%
Within eight weeks 87% within thirteen
97 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Burnley compares

Year to December 2026

Burnley decides faster than the country as a whole: 3 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 62%.

The average here is 62 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 97 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 126 62%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 51 25%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 26 13%

By type of application

Year to December 2026 · types with at least ten decisions

The headline median mixes every kind of application together. A householder extension and an outline application for a housing site are not the same job, and the difference between them is usually larger than the difference between two councils.

  1. Conditions 21 decided 43 days
  2. Prior approval 12 decided 43 days
  3. Amendments 11 decided 48 days
  4. Lawful development 18 decided 51 days
  5. Advertising 13 decided 54 days
  6. Householder 41 decided 54 days
  7. Full applications 67 decided 58 days

How these types compare nationally

What Burnley decides

Year to December 2026

Burnley issued 203 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 80% were approvals: 155 granted against 38 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes sit outside that percentage rather than being counted as either.

Speed and approval rate are separate things. A council that refuses quickly is not doing the same job as one that negotiates an approval slowly, and neither figure alone says which served the applicant better.

Common questions

How long does a planning decision take in Burnley?

The median planning application decided by Burnley in the year to December 2026 took 54 days from submission to decision, 2 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 203 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Burnley meet the eight week target?

62% of the 203 decisions Burnley made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 87% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 97 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Burnley faster or slower than average?

Burnley is faster than average: its median of 54 days is 3 days below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Burnley approve?

80% of the clear-cut outcomes Burnley issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 155 granted against 38 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Burnley planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 54 days from application to decision (2 days inside the eight week target), across 203 decisions with both dates published. 62% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 87% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 97 days. 80% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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