Planning decisions in Barnet

How long Barnet takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,659 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 2026. Days run from validation to decision, the clock the council reports against; the wait from receipt is shown beside it. How the figures are made.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 51 from receipt
85%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 95% within thirteen
79%approved (UK 89%): 1,833 approved, 478 refused, 90 withdrawn
109 of 321UK rank for speed, down 95 places on last year; 300 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 55 days, 453 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 56 days, 242 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 34 days, 162 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 43 days, 347 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 8 days, 26 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 27 days, 143 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 50 days, 375 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 432 decisionsAprMay 2026: 50 days, 392 decisionsMayJune 2026: 51 days, 435 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 54 days, 501 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 355 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications (including householder)5679%72%972164 of 302
Lawful development certificates2796%80%47620 of 253
Discharge of conditions4278%96%39450 of 175
Tree works3997%95%355137 of 259
Prior approvals3593%29%16064 of 168
Amendments4984%77%158202 of 263
Advertisement consent5574%89%35110 of 190
Listed building consent5665%100%3496 of 200
Other2279%100%3422 of 41

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5079%2,600
Planning committeeunder 1%65100%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 54 decisions did not say.

Appeals

306 appeals against Barnet decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 64 for every 100 refusals; 25% were allowed. Every appeal in Barnet.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5658%95%117
2017 *5749%93%130
2018 *5749%87%113
2019 *5657%78%98
2020 *4293%16%52
2021 *41100%26%35
2022 *41100%14%30
2023 *5946%91%76
2024 *5945%94%103
2025 *5942%90%56
2026 so far5173%79%2,659

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Barnet's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Barnet, appeals, or get alerts for Barnet.

About these figures

How are decision times measured?
Days from the date the council validated the application to the date it decided it, for applications approved or refused in the window. That is the clock councils report against and the official statistics use. Each council’s page also shows the count from receipt, which is what the applicant actually waited. Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.
Why do these figures differ from the council’s own?
Councils count an agreed extension of time as decided on time; we treat the calendar as the calendar. Our figures are also live and rolling, where official statistics are quarterly and annual. So a council’s own within-eight-weeks figure will usually sit a little above ours.
What counts as approved?
Approval rate is approvals divided by approvals plus refusals. Withdrawals, and decisions whose outcome the register does not state, are counted in the totals but not in the rate.
Why is a council missing?
A council is published when it has at least 25 timed decisions in the window and its register’s decision data passes our consistency checks. Councils that fail are listed with the reason rather than shown with a number that would mislead.
How often is this updated?
Nightly, from the decisions we collect from every council register we monitor. The window is the twelve months to the last complete month.