Where to start
Most readers arrive with one question about one home. The quickest way in is to match the home to a page:
- You live in a terraced house in Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn, Blackburn or Rossendale: Mill terraces.
- Your home is heated by oil or LPG, especially in the Ribble Valley, West Lancashire, Wyre or around Lancaster: Oil and LPG homes.
- Your household is on a lower income and the home is poorly rated: Cosy Homes in Lancashire.
- Your home is electrically heated, as many are in Blackpool, Fylde and Preston: Off-gas Lancashire.
- You let a property, or you rent one: Renting in Lancashire.
- Your house is listed, or in a conservation area: Listed buildings.
If none of those fits, a gas-heated semi or detached house in Chorley, South Ribble, Wyre or the Preston suburbs, say, the planning rules and the grants page cover the standard case.
Districts
Start here if you want the figures for your own council.
- District finderPick a council: its Warm Homes route and status, off-gas share, house types and grants paid
- All 14 districtsEvery council in one table, with the four groups explained
- East LancashireBurnley, Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale and Blackburn with Darwen
- The Fylde coastBlackpool, Fylde and Wyre
- North Lancashire and Ribble ValleyLancaster and the Ribble Valley
- Central and West LancashirePreston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire
Grants
The two routes that pay towards a heat pump here, and where they have been used.
- Cosy Homes in LancashireThe Warm Homes: Local Grant route for 13 councils, and why it is closed until spring
- Oil and LPG homesThe higher Boiler Upgrade Scheme band and its conditions
- Grants paid by districtHeat pumps funded per 1,000 households in each council
Homes
What the housing of each part of the county means for the work.
- Mill terracesBack yards, rear walls, the neighbour's window and a place for a cylinder
- Off-gas LancashireSix councils above one property in ten without a gas meter
- How Lancashire heats its homesCensus 2021 heating fuels, council by council
- Renting in LancashireLandlords, tenants and social housing
- Lancashire in numbersEvery figure on the site in two tables
Planning
When a heat pump needs an application, and when it does not.
- Planning rulesClass G, Class C, the sound calculation and conservation areas
- Listed buildingsRecords by council and how to approach an application
Reference
Definitions, answers and where every figure comes from.
- GlossaryPlain meanings for the terms used across the guide
- QuestionsShort answers to the questions Lancashire households ask most
- SourcesEach dataset and rule, with its date and what it is used for
- AboutWho publishes the guide and how it is checked
How the guide is put together
Every page uses the same four datasets for its local figures: the 2021 census for households, house types, tenure and heating; the government's 2024 off-gas estimates; the Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics to September 2026; and the national planning dataset for listed buildings. The figures are drawn from one file, so a number on one page matches the same number everywhere else. Each page lists its own sources at the foot.
The guide treats Lancashire as the 14 councils of the ceremonial county: the 12 districts of Lancashire County Council, plus Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Wigan, Bolton and the other Greater Manchester boroughs, and Sefton and the rest of Merseyside, have their own councils and their own grant routes, so they are not covered here.
Nothing on the site is a recommendation of an installer. We list no firms and pass on no details; questions sent through the form come to the publisher, who replies by email.