London Borough of Barnet

How Barnet decides on small housing schemes

Every decision on sites of nine units or fewer, coded from the council's own register and refreshed each quarter. What gets built, what gets approved, and what trips applications up.

Last updated April 2026 367 applications tracked Window: Jan 2023 to Mar 2026 7 areas, 4 scheme types
Applications logged
367
Full, householder and minor resi since Jan 2023
Decided so far
284
122 approved, 162 refused, 27 withdrawn
Approval rate
43%
Under half of decided applications
Typical time to decide
8 weeks
Median determination time across all small sites

Barnet, area by area

Colour shows how often applications get approved. Numbers show how many were decided. Hover or tap an area for detail.

Chipping Barnet 26 East Barnet 14 Finchley 71 Hendon 81 Golders Green & Garden Suburb 33 Mill Hill & Edgware 35 Colindale & Burnt Oak 24 Approval rate 21% 64%
Spotlight

Chipping Barnet

Decisions
26
Approved
10
Refused
16
Approval rate
38%
Hover or tap any tile to see that area’s detail.
Tile positions are schematic, not to geographic scale. Each hex represents one of Barnet’s sub-areas as defined in the council’s own planning framework.

East Barnet approves 64% of applications. Colindale & Burnt Oak, closer to 21%. Same borough, same policy, 43 percentage points of difference.

Which kinds of schemes get approved?

Bar length shows how many of each type were decided. The split shows the share approved versus refused. Conversion is by far the most common route in Barnet, but it's mid-terrace that sees the highest approval rate.

Approved Refused Bar length = sample size (max n=174)
Conversion
35%n=174
Demolish & rebuild
53%n=34
Mid-terrace
56%n=34
Extension
42%n=12
Scheme types with fewer than 10 decisions in the window are not shown here.
Conversion, dividing one home into flats
Demolish & rebuild, existing building replaced with new homes
Mid-terrace, insertion into the middle of a terrace
Extension, rear, side or upward additions creating a new unit

Why applications fail in Barnet

Of every hundred reasons cited in refused decisions in Barnet, design quality accounts for the biggest slice at 76%.

Design quality, bulk, massing, appearance 76
Amenity, overlooking, daylight, noise 9
Policy, affordable housing, density targets 6
Transport, parking, safety, access 3
Open space, loss of garden or green space 2
Infrastructure, access, parking, drainage 2
Unit sizes, below space standards 1
Flood risk 1
Other, mixed reasons 0
Read as: “Of every 100 reasons cited in a refusal, 76 relate to design quality.” A single refusal often names two or more reasons. Based on 341 reasons extracted from refused decision notices.

In Barnet, what gets a scheme refused is usually how it looks, not how many homes it adds.

Thinking about a specific site?

The dashboard gives you the borough picture. If you have a particular address in mind, we can tell you what the comparable decisions say about your odds, density and capacity.

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Data sources & method

Applications. Sourced from the Greater London Authority (GLA) Planning Datahub and Barnet Council’s online planning register. Covers full planning, householder, and minor residential applications of nine units or fewer decided in the window shown above.

Decisions and timing. Outcomes and determination times are taken from the council’s published decision notices.

Refusal reasons. Extracted from refused decision notices that were publicly available. Not every refusal has a readable notice, so totals count all refusals but the reason breakdown covers only those we could read.

Scheme classification. Site types (conversion, demolish & rebuild, extension, and so on) are coded from application descriptions and drawings. Areas are mapped from postcodes and ward names using the council’s own sub-area definitions.

Update frequency. Refreshed quarterly. Next refresh: July 2026.

Nothing here is planning advice. Outcomes are historical and do not predict individual cases. Approval rates vary with site specifics, policy context, and case officer. For a read on a particular site, request a Site Assessment. See our Terms of Use for full details on how this data is compiled and the limits of its use.