Development Intent
AtlasBarnetOfficersErica Mason
Case officer · Barnet Planning

Erica Mason.

Active — last recorded decision May 2026

A case officer at Barnet with an approval rate of 72% across 316 decided planning applications, spanning 26 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer316 decisions72% approvalSave
Barnet · ward map
Approval rate — by ward
Lower ~68%
Higher ~90%
ShowingAll years · subscriber →across all years on record — a period re-scopes the headline figures and the trend
At a glanceEach metric links to the investigation behind it
All investigations →
316
Applications
2020–26
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%66%202182%202284%202357%202472%202567%2026
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate72% · 72nd of 85
higher is betterdashed = London avg
Decision time · publishes with decision notices
in development
Appeal overturn · publishes with decision notices
in development
How this officer decides — from their own reports95 officer reports parsed
100%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
100%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
7%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
60%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Barnet's average officer

Topic mentions per 1,000 words of their own report text (boilerplate stripped), indexed against all parsed Barnet reports. Attention, not stance.

Energy & sustainability
2.12× borough avg
Transport & parking
1.63× borough avg
Precedent & consistency
1.36× borough avg
Flooding & drainage
1.27× borough avg
Privacy & overlooking
1.18× borough avg

Mark = borough average (1×). Bar capped at 2×.

How they reason — coded from their reports

Mason's caseload leans toward Prior Notification office-to-residential (PNO) change-of-use cases and larger commercial schemes, and her PNO refusals work systematically through EACH numbered GPDO criterion in turn (natural light, noise, flooding) rather than reaching a global conclusion, explicitly stating which sub-paragraph is not met. She is also unusually attentive to parking-permit restriction conditions as a standalone highways safeguard distinct from the physical scheme.

Observable habits

· works through each numbered GPDO Class O sub-criterion (natural light, flooding, noise) as its own explicit pass/fail test rather than a single combined judgement

· treats a parking-permit restriction condition (via S106) as a distinct highways safeguard, separate from the physical/design assessment of a scheme

· assesses external alterations proposed alongside a change-of-use application as INELIGIBLE under the same permitted-development class, requiring separate full planning permission

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: each individual numbered GPDO Class O sub-criterion (natural light, noise, flood risk) assessed and stated as its own pass/fail, not a global verdict

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether external alterations bundled into a change-of-use application are actually covered by that permitted-development class, or require separate permission

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: a formal S106 parking-permit restriction where a scheme lacks off-street provision, treated as its own distinct safeguard

Assigned Erica Mason on a live case?What they pay attention to, how they reason, and what their reports consistently look for — so you can address it before they raise it.Subscribe to unlock →
In their own words

the changes cannot be facilitated under the Order - as there is no provision under Class O for external alterations - and are therefore not permitted

21/0892/PNO

The proposed development does not include a formal undertaking to restrict the access of future occupiers to residential parking permits, resulting in an increased demand for onstreet parking

21/0892/PNO

Measured from 95 published Barnet officer reports written by this officer, with recited policy boilerplate stripped before any counting. These describe how this officer works and writes — they are not outcome predictions. Every quote is from a named public report.

Policy playbook — what this officer cites[3]

The policies this officer cites most in their own reports — times cited across 95 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

CS1 arnet’s place shaping strategy – protection,
74 times cited
CS NPPF
71 times cited
CS5 rotecting and enhancing Barnet’s character
58 times cited
DM01Protecting Barnet’s character and amenity Page
55 times cited
DM02Development standards Page
37 times cited
CS4Providing quality homes and housing choice in Barnet
21 times cited
DM17Travel Impact and Parking Standards
20 times cited
CS9Enlargement of School Facilities CS10 DM
18 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–26.[1] Click the map above to focus this page on a ward, or a row to open the ward.

Recent applications
Address
Reference
Type
Outcome
Date
26/1276/FUL
Full Application
Refused
2026-06-04
26/0989/HSE
Householder Application
Withdrawn
2026-06-02
26/1276/FUL
Full Application
Refused
2026-06-04
26/0989/HSE
Householder Application
Withdrawn
2026-06-02
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 316 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. UPP Architects + Town Planners
2. Great Plans
3. GD Surveyors Ltd
4. Henry Planning Limited
At a glance
OfficerErica Mason
BoroughBarnet
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications316 (2020–26)
Approval rate72%
London approval avg81%
Who decides here
GovernmentMayor of LondonCouncilCommitteeOfficersDecisionsApplicantsInspectorate
Related investigations
When committees overrule officers like this one →
How often members depart from officer recommendations, and how those overrides fare at appeal.
How much gets decided without a committee →
The delegated share by borough and officer — where the real power over decisions sits.
Sources & method
  1. [1]Applications decided, approval rate, per-year trend and ward breakdown — London Borough of Barnet planning register and published decision notices, 2020–26. · methodology
  2. [2]Appeal overturn and decision-time benchmarks — Planning Inspectorate (PINS) appeal decisions and application date pairs; not yet computed per officer, shown as a dash until they are. · PINS appeals casework
  3. [3]Condition load — mean effective conditions attached to Barnet decision notices (grant/split), parsed from the published notice text; a borough figure, not yet split per case officer.
  4. [4]"How this officer decides", the policy playbook and all quotes — parsed from 95 published Barnet officer reports written by this officer, recited policy boilerplate stripped before counting; disposition text coded from their own reasoning with every quote machine-verified verbatim. Descriptive of how they work — not outcome predictions.
Methodology is published in full so every number is traceable to its primary source.