Development Intent
AtlasBarnetOfficersRish Mehan
Case officer · Barnet Planning

Rish Mehan.

Active — last recorded decision May 2026

A case officer at Barnet with an approval rate of 92% across 150 decided planning applications, spanning 23 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer150 decisions92% 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 →
150
Applications
2022–26
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%93%202294%2023100%202481%202586%2026
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate92% · 7th 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 reports80 officer reports parsed
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
4%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
47%
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.

Noise & disturbance
2.06× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
0.99× borough avg
Privacy & overlooking
0.86× borough avg
Bulk & massing
0.64× borough avg
Character & heritage
0.63× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Mehan's caseload of dormer and roof-extension applications is notable for splitting the impact assessment into named 'Impact to Character' and 'Impact to Neighbouring Amenity' sub-headings even in short reports, and for explicitly framing an overlooking objection against the STANDARD relationship already existing elsewhere on the same property, rather than treating any new upper-floor window as automatically harmful.

Observable habits

· splits every assessment into separately headed 'Impact to Character' and 'Impact to Neighbouring Amenity' sections even in short reports

· benchmarks a new window's overlooking impact against the STANDARD relationship already existing elsewhere at the same property (e.g. an existing rear-wing window), rather than treating it in isolation

· explicitly states that construction-phase noise/disruption is not a material planning consideration when addressing objections

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: a genuinely separate, independently headed character assessment and amenity assessment, not one merged narrative

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: the STANDARD window relationship already existing elsewhere at the same property, used as the overlooking benchmark for a new opening

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: a clear statement distinguishing construction-phase disruption objections from material planning considerations

Assigned Rish Mehan 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 impact is not considered to be inconsistent with the standard relationship with upper floor windows in the rear elevation in an urban environment - such as that which already exists with the window in the rear wing at first floor level

22/1550/FUL

The potential noise and disruption from carrying out the works is not a material planning consideration

22/1550/FUL

Measured from 80 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 80 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

CS1 arnet’s place shaping strategy – protection,
22 times cited
CS NPPF
21 times cited
CS5 rotecting and enhancing Barnet’s character
18 times cited
DM01Protecting Barnet’s character and amenity Page
10 times cited
DM02Development standards Page
6 times cited
14
2 times cited
15
2 times cited
14.4
2 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2022–26.[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
26/1225/FUL
Full Application
Withdrawn
2026-06-10
26/1931/RCU
Retention/Continued Use
2026-05-22
26/1225/FUL
Full Application
Withdrawn
2026-06-10
26/1931/RCU
Retention/Continued Use
2026-05-22
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. John Rowan & Partners
2. UPP Architects + Town Planners
3. MSK Design Ltd
4. Design Squared Ltd
At a glance
OfficerRish Mehan
BoroughBarnet
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications150 (2022–26)
Approval rate92%
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, 2022–26. · 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 80 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.