Pavement o/s, 84 St James’s Street, Burnley, BB11 1NJ

1. 1.The proposed multifunctional communication hub, by reason of its siting, scale, form and appearance, would introduce a visually prominent and intrusive item of street furniture into the pedestrianised public realm of St James's Street. The development would result in visual clutter, harming the character and appearance of the streetscene, the Burnley Town Centre Conservation Area and the setting of the locally listed buildings at 80-94 St James's Street. The proposal would therefore fail to preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Conservation Area and would conflict with Policies SP5, HE1, HE2 and HE3 of Burnley's Local Plan, the statutory duty under Section 72(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and the design objectives of the National Planning Policy Framework. Cont./ PA/2026/0219
2. 2.Whilst the proposed development would provide public benefits, including digital connectivity, wayfinding, mobile device charging and a publicly accessible defibrillator, these benefits are not considered sufficient to outweigh the identified harm to the Burnley Town Centre Conservation Area and the setting of surrounding locally listed buildings. The weight afforded to these benefits is diminished by the existence of comparable facilities already approved approximately 75 metres from the application site and the approved publicly accessible defibrillator at 80–82 St James's Street. Accordingly, the proposal fails to demonstrate that the public benefits clearly outweigh the identified heritage harm and is therefore contrary to Policy HE2 of Burnley's Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework.

From the council's decision notice.

Postcode

BB11 1NJ

Application type

Full planning permission

Scale / size

Small

Parish

Not within a Parish

Date validated

15 June 2026

Target decision date

10 July 2026

Application expires

10 August 2026

Statutory period

56 days

Documents

18