Understanding planning · 13 min read
Planning application documents: what to read first
Understand planning application documents, officer reports and decision notices. Use a reading checklist, document table and worked example to inspect a case.
England · Local authority
Explore collected planning applications and decisions for West Lancashire Borough Council. Search an address, application reference or proposal to find a record.
6,798 approved · 1,327 refused · 412 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 23 Dec 2011 to 8 Oct 2026. Most recent record check: 11 Oct 2026. Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.
Explore published planning boundaries and follow their source records for designation details. Coverage varies: an empty map does not mean there are no restrictions. Check the council’s current maps and documents before relying on a boundary.
Interactive planning map loads with JavaScript. Dataset sources are linked below.
Download Article 4 coverage for all authorities (CSV)
Data downloaded 14 Sept 2026. Display boundaries are simplified and indicative. Map record counts are not a complete count of designations or directions.
Sources: Planning Data conservation areas and Article 4 direction areas. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Ormskirk Golf Club Cranes Lane Lathom Ormskirk Lancashire L40 5UJ
Received 9 Dec 2014114 Summerwood Lane Halsall Lancashire L39 8RH
Received 9 Dec 2014Hesketh Bank Methodist Chapel Chapel Road Hesketh Bank Lancashire PR4 6RY
Received 10 Dec 20146 Lathom Avenue Parbold Wigan Lancashire WN8 7DT
Received 10 Dec 2014153 Station Road Hesketh Bank Preston Lancashire PR4 6ST
Received 10 Dec 2014Watkinsons Farm Hall Lane Lathom Ormskirk Lancashire L40 5UG
Received 10 Dec 2014Unit 12 Swordfish Close Burscough Lancashire L40 8JW
Received 10 Dec 201414 Coach Road Bickerstaffe Ormskirk Lancashire L39 0EU
Received 10 Dec 201419 And 21 Kearsley Avenue Tarleton Preston Lancashire PR4 6BP
Received 8 Dec 20143 Ayrefield Road Roby Mill Up Holland Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 0QP
Received 10 Dec 201425 Ayrefield Road Roby Mill Up Holland Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 0QP
Received 10 Dec 2014Waterside Business Park New Lane Burscough Lancashire L40 8JX
Received 10 Dec 2014153 Station Road Hesketh Bank Preston Lancashire PR4 6ST
Received 10 Dec 201429 Glenside Appley Bridge Wigan Lancashire WN6 9EF
Received 8 Jan 201512 Holland Moss Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 9PZ
Received 12 Dec 20141 Heskin Lane Ormskirk Lancashire L39 1LR
Received 8 Dec 20147C Coe Lane Tarleton Preston Lancashire PR4 6HH
Received 11 Dec 2014Land To The Rear Of Old Waggoners Cottage Formby Lane Aughton Lancashire
Received 11 Dec 2014Barn At Diglake Farm Diglake Farm Southport Road Scarisbrick Lancashire
Received 11 Dec 2014Lower End Farm Bowkers Green Lane Bickerstaffe Ormskirk Lancashire L39 9ER
Received 11 Dec 2014Francis Farm 124 Lord Sefton Way Great Altcar Liverpool Lancashire L37 5AQ
Received 11 Dec 201461 Becconsall Lane Hesketh Bank Preston Lancashire PR4 6RR
Received 15 Dec 201461 Becconsall Lane Hesketh Bank Preston Lancashire PR4 6RR
Received 15 Dec 2014The Farm 71 Martin Lane Burscough Lancashire L40 0RT
Received 15 Dec 2014Records are ordered by application ID, not submission date. Use search to find a particular address or proposal.
View all applicationsStart with the address or application reference. Open a record to read the proposal, dates and available documents, then check the official register for the latest plans and consultation details. If nothing appears, check coverage before treating the result as a complete planning history.
How to search planning applications
Understanding planning · 13 min read
Understand planning application documents, officer reports and decision notices. Use a reading checklist, document table and worked example to inspect a case.

Understanding planning · 13 min read
Read planning drawings, floor plans, elevations and sections. Use labelled diagrams, a drawing comparison table and revision checks to understand a proposal.

Property research · 13 min read
Understand planning approval rates with an interactive calculator, worked examples and comparison table. Check sample sizes, outcomes and coverage before comparing.
These figures describe applications collected by PlanningTrack for West Lancashire Borough Council, across all dates currently available. They are a partial dataset, rather than an authority-wide performance measure. The date range does not establish continuous historical coverage.
The approval percentage is approved records divided by approved plus refused records. Pending, withdrawn and unknown outcomes are excluded. No percentage is shown until there is an approved or refused record.
Check collection coverage