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.
6,839 approved · 1,336 refused · 414 withdrawn.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 Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.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.
Toby Tavern Bar And Grill Ashurst Road Ashurst Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 6XN
Received 8 Jan 2015Toby Tavern Bar And Grill Ashurst Road Ashurst Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 6XN
Received 8 Jan 2015128 Summerwood Lane Halsall Ormskirk Lancashire L39 8RH
Received 8 Jan 2015Needless Inn Farm Barn Lady Alices Drive Lathom Ormskirk Lancashire L40 5UD
Received 12 Jan 2015St Marys Rectory 17 Church Road Rufford Ormskirk Lancashire L40 1TA
Received 12 Jan 2015Needless Inn Farm Barn Lady Alices Drive Lathom Ormskirk Lancashire L40 5UD
Received 12 Jan 2015Land Opposite 34 Westerdale Drive Banks Lancashire
Received 2 Jan 201578 Appley Lane North Appley Bridge Wigan Lancashire WN6 9AQ
Received 12 Jan 2015Co-operative 34 Ormskirk Road Up Holland Skelmersdale Lancashire WN8 0AG
Received 12 Jan 2015The Rookery Hall Lane Lathom Ormskirk Lancashire L40 5UG
Received 9 Jan 2015Holly Farm 29 Holly Lane Rufford Ormskirk Lancashire L40 1SH
Received 12 Jan 2015Holmcroft Holmeswood Road Rufford Ormskirk Lancashire L40 1TY
Received 13 Jan 2015Heather Farm Carr Moss Lane Halsall Ormskirk Lancashire L39 8RY
Received 13 Jan 201556 - 78 Chapel Street Ormskirk Lancashire L39 4QF
Received 13 Jan 2015The Bungalow Lathom Park Lathom Ormskirk Lancashire L40 5UQ
Received 14 Jan 201512 Maesbrook Close Banks Southport Lancashire PR9 8FF
Received 14 Jan 2015Holt Green Cottage 191 Bold Lane Aughton Ormskirk Lancashire L39 6SH
Received 13 Jan 2015F And P Warning Charity Farm Caravan Park Smithy Brow Wrightington Lancashire WN6 9PP
Received 15 Jan 20159 Turnpike Road Aughton Ormskirk Lancashire L39 3LD
Received 15 Jan 2015Land To The Rear Of 130 Moss Lane Hesketh Bank Lancashire
Received 13 Jan 2015Giants Hall Culvert Lane Newburgh Wigan Lancashire WN8 7XA
Received 15 Jan 2015Giants Hall Culvert Lane Newburgh Wigan Lancashire WN8 7XA
Received 15 Jan 2015Delph House Farm Hall Lane Wrightington Wigan Lancashire WN6 9EH
Received 15 Jan 2015Land To The West Of Parrs Lane Aughton Lancashire
Received 14 Jan 2015Records 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