How likely is my planning application to get approved in Barnet?

Planning permission in Barnet isn't a single question with a single answer. Whether you're extending in East Finchley, adding a dormer in Mill Hill, or converting a garage in Monken Hadley, the variables stacked against — or in your favour — are specific to your property. Most homeowners assume the odds are roughly the same everywhere in the borough. They're not, and that assumption has cost people £548 and several months. The best way to understand your actual position is to see what's been approved on streets like yours — free, takes about a minute.

The conservation area question is more complicated than you think

Barnet has over 15 conservation areas — Totteridge Village, Mill Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, and Monken Hadley among them. Being inside one changes what's permitted, but being in one doesn't tell you nearly enough. Each conservation area has its own character appraisal, its own precedent history, and its own pattern of what gets approved versus refused.

Hampstead Garden Suburb is a particularly unusual case. It's a 1907 planned community with its own Trust that exercises strict design controls alongside council planning powers. Article 4 Directions also apply to parts of it, meaning permitted development rights that exist elsewhere in Barnet don't exist here. A project that sails through in Whetstone might be refused outright 800 metres away in the Suburb — even if the two houses look similar from the street.

Most homeowners don't realise the conservation area they're in shapes not just the decision, but the reasons for that decision — and the precedents that matter.

Green Belt, flood zones, and constraints you might not know you have

Barnet's northern fringe borders substantial Green Belt around Totteridge and Arkley. If your postcode is in EN4, EN5, or parts of N20, you may be closer to a constraint boundary than you think. Green Belt designation doesn't automatically mean refusal — but it changes the threshold your application has to clear, and it changes what comparable approvals actually mean for your case.

Beyond Green Belt, there are flood zones affecting parts of the borough, listed buildings on streets that otherwise look entirely ordinary, and Article 4 Directions that remove permitted development rights in ways that don't appear on any sign outside your house. The question isn't just whether you're in a constraint zone — it's what that constraint zone has meant in practice for projects like yours.

What the borough average doesn't tell you

Published planning statistics give you a national or regional picture. They won't tell you that a particular type of rear extension has been consistently refused on your road, or that a neighbour's almost-identical application was approved with conditions last year. That gap — between what the numbers suggest and what actually happens at address level — is where most homeowners get caught out.

The best way to close that gap is to check the approval pattern for your specific project type in your part of Barnet.

Your address, your project type, your constraint mix — these are what actually determine your chances. WhatCanIBuild pulls together the approval record for your street alongside what your property's specific constraints mean for your odds. See the full picture for your property before you spend a penny on drawings — no signup needed.