Planning decisions in Barnet

How long Barnet takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 4,331 decisions it made in the twelve months to September 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 54); 51 from receipt
82%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 94% within thirteen
81%approved (UK 90%): 3,348 approved, 786 refused, 158 withdrawn
94 of 388UK rank for speed, down 80 places on last year; 367 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 22 days, 22 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 35 days, 145 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 43 days, 302 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 53 days, 408 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 377 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 52 days, 460 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 463 decisionsAprMay 2026: 50 days, 400 decisionsMayJune 2026: 50 days, 441 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 52 days, 512 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 379 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 53 days, 422 decisionsSept
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (54 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Householder applications5680%81%1,080106 of 200
Lawful development certificates2796%79%71622 of 348
Discharge of conditions4274%97%62344 of 310
Full applications5663%61%617107 of 359
Tree works3996%97%562157 of 324
Prior approvals3597%60%322153 of 340
Amendments5478%78%241259 of 356
Listed building consent5658%97%6898 of 307
Advertisement consent5677%82%62196 of 320
Other *1776%100%214 of 35

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5081%4,221
Planning committee1%10496%23

Where the register states how the decision was made. 87 decisions did not say.

Appeals

317 appeals against Barnet decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 40 for every 100 refusals; 27% 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 far5369%81%3,862

* 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 388 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.