Housing minister Matthew Pennycook defended his government's housing reform at UKREiiF in Leeds in May and is now cracking down on underperforming councius. Credit: Place Media Group

Rossendale put on government naughty step

15 June 2026 11:54 Neil Tague Comments ()

The Lancastrian local authority is among the latest councils to be issued with a notice of designation over the performance of its planning department.

Chorley Council was the first in the region to be put into special measures under the performance of its planning department, being issued with a notice of designation in 2023 – the council was then de-designated last year.

Now, Rossendale has joined the list, among a nine-strong cohort of English council planning departments carpeted this week.

Local planning authorities are at risk if more than 10% of decisions are allowed by appeal – for the time period covered, Rossendale’s was 15.4%, the highest of the nine councils to be disciplined.

An LPA can be designated if the secretary of state considers there are respects in which it is not adequately performing its function of determining applications. A designation effectively means that developers seeking planning permission for certain schemes can bypass the council and go directly to the Planning Inspectorate seeking determination.

The performance of LPAs in determining major and non-major development applications can be assessed separately, and it is on major applications that Rossendale’s performance has fallen short.

LPAs are judged both on the speed with which they deal with applications, ie the proportion of proposals that are either dealt with in the statutory time period, or an agreed extended period; and on the quality of decisions they make, calculated by measuring the proportion of decisions later overturned at appeal.

The period concerned has seen data considered over the two-year period ending on 31 March 2025, and subsequent appeals decisions to 31 December 2025 on the quality of decision-making on major developments.

Censuring the LPAs follows fresh government data on planning applications that shows only 261,700 decisions were granted in 2025, a 4% fall year-on-year.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said that designations will remain in place until ministers are convinced that councils can turn around their poor performance and demonstrate they can make quality planning decisions.

MHCLG added that “this is part of a deliberate shift towards tougher national oversight of the planning system, with Ministers prepared to intervene where councils are not meeting expectations and hold them accountable for performance. It sends a clear signal that failure to deliver will no longer be tolerated”.

MHCLG believes that there is a “strong track record that this works” highlighting the turnaround undertaken by Uttlesford Council in Essex.

Signed by housing minister Matthew Pennycook, Rossendale’s designation is in force from today, until the notice is revoked.

Rossendale Council has been contacted for comment.