Planning permission in Rossendale

Rossendale Borough Council decides planning applications in Rossendale. This page shows the protected areas that affect what homeowners can build without planning permission, and the planning data Rossendale publishes.

Conservation areas

Rossendale has 11 conservation areas. In a conservation area, permitted development rights are reduced: side extensions, two-storey extensions, loft dormers and cladding all need planning permission, and many councils add Article 4 directions on top.

• Bacup Town Centre Conservation Area
• Chatterton/Strongstry Conservation Area
• Cloughfold Conservation Area
• Fallbarn Conservation Area
• Goodshawfold Conservation Area
• Haslingden Conservation Area
• Irwell Vale Conservation Area
• Loveclough Fold Conservation Area
• Rawtenstall Conservation Area
• Waterfoot Conservation Area
• Whitworth Square Conservation Area

Read more: extensions, loft dormers, garden rooms and solar panels in a conservation area.

Article 4 directions

Rossendale has published 7 Article 4 areas. Inside them, some permitted development rights are removed, so work that would normally be allowed needs planning permission.

The rights they remove most often:

• Part 6 Class A (Part 6 Class A, in 4 of the areas)
• Part 6 Class B (Part 6 Class B, in 4 of the areas)
• Porches (Part 1 Class D, in 3 of the areas)
• Hard surfaces, such as paved driveways (Part 1 Class F, in 3 of the areas)
• House extensions (Part 1 Class A, in 2 of the areas)
• Garden buildings and outbuildings (Part 1 Class E, in 2 of the areas)
• Walls, fences and gates (Part 2 Class A, in 2 of the areas)
• New access onto a road (Part 2 Class B, in 2 of the areas)
• Painting the outside of a building (Part 2 Class C, in 2 of the areas)
• Part 4 Class B (Part 4 Class B, in 1 of the areas)

Directions listed by Rossendale:

• Bacup Town Centre Conservation Area
• Chatterton and Strongstry Conservation Area
• Immediate Article 4 Direction for small Houses in Multiple Occupation
• Land at Fox Hill Farm, Shawclough, Waterfoot, Rossendale
• Land at Higher Tunstead Farm, Stacksteads, Rossendale
• Land at Leabrook Poultry Farm (formerly known as Collinge Fold Farm) off Collinge Fold Lane, Rawtenstall, Rossendale
• Land comprising the dwellinghouses and curtilages thereof situated at Top O'Th Bank Roundhill Lane Haslingden Rossendale
• Land within and abutting Irwell Vale Conservation Area

What is an Article 4 direction?

National parks, National Landscapes and green belt

• There is green belt in or bordering Rossendale. Householder permitted development rights apply as normal in the green belt, but if you need planning permission, green belt policy limits how much a home can be enlarged.

Listed buildings and protected trees

Listed buildings everywhere in England are recorded by Historic England, and the checker looks for them at every address. Rossendale also publishes 278 listed building outlines, which show exactly which building is listed.

Rossendale publishes its tree preservation orders (2,235 areas and individual trees), so we can flag protected trees near an address.

What Rossendale publishes

Data from planning.data.gov.uk, published by Rossendale Borough Council and national bodies under the Open Government Licence, last updated here on 30 October 2026. Rossendale Borough Council website.