Mayor approves more than 800 new homes in Barnet

A major development in north west London of 844 new homes – of which 41% will be affordable – has been approved by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.Plans to redevelop the disused Pentavia Retail Park in Mill Hill were rejected by Barnet council in July last year because members of its planning committee felt the scheme was an ‘over-development’ of the site and would not provide enough affordable housing.The Mayor ‘called in’ the application last November to subject it to further scrutiny before deciding.The original application included 724 homes, of which 35% would be affordable.Barnet delivered just 7,670 homes and only 1,645 affordable homes between 2012 and 2017, said to be “well below” the targets set out in the London Plan.Between 2014 and 2017, just 9% of the homes given planning permission in Barnet were affordable.The scheme, approved by the Mayor, will provide more affordable homes than were delivered across the whole of Barnet in the year 2017-18.