The Federation of Synagogues has won the right to erect upright headstones in its new Edgware cemetery despite council officers' objections that they would detract from the location's green belt character.
Overriding their officials' recommendations, Barnet Council's planning committee last week voted in favour of the synagogue body.
"We are delighed at the outcome," said Federation president Andrew Cohen, who was among a large number of its members at the Hendon Town Hall meeting.
The cemetery will be the organisation's first in north-west London, where the bulk of its members live, and is due to open this year.
It had been designated as a woodland cemetery, where only flat gravestones would be permitted. But the Federation argued that it had been the longstanding tradition within Ashkenazi communities to have vertical headstones.
Planning officers advised that "given the clearly identified harm to the openness of the green belt, it is not considered that there are very special circumstances that would outweigh the harm".
A Jewish resident living close to the site echoed their concerns, claiming that the stones would go against its rural character.
Support for the Federation came both from Greater London Assembly member for Barnet, Andrew Dismore, and his Conservative opponent in the forthcoming GLA elections, Dan Thomas, the deputy council leader.
Mr Dismore argued that there was an "acute need for additional burial space" - and "cultural and religious expectations" for upright stones.
Invoking the Bible, Federation trustee Menachem Gertner pointed out that when the patriarch Jacob buried his wife Rachel, he erected "a monument".
The planning committee voted without opposition in the Federation's favour. "People need to commemorate their loved ones the way they want to," said committee member Councillor Jim Tierney.
Mr Cohen said that "work can now proceed in satisfying all conditions of the permission and the commencement of the groundworks. Barnet Council has once again shown its true support for the Jewish community of north-west London and is to be commended."
The Federation's Edmonton cemetery is almost full, while Rainham in Essex is a lengthy drive for those among its growing north-west London community.
It recently sold an unused part of Rainham cemetery for more than
£8 million.
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