Development Intent
AtlasCroydonOfficersJames Young
Case officer · Croydon Planning

James Young.

Last recorded decision Sep 2021 — no decisions in this record since

A case officer at Croydon with an approval rate of 70% across 52 decided planning applications, spanning 20 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer52 decisions70% approvalSave
Croydon · 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 →
52
Applications
2020–21
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average

Not enough dated decisions for a trend yet.

What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate70% · 41st of 83
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 reports52 officer reports parsed
0%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
0%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
2%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
86%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Croydon's average officer

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

Privacy & overlooking
2.27× borough avg
Flooding & drainage
1.94× borough avg
Daylight & sunlight
1.87× borough avg
Character & heritage
1.57× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.24× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Young's reports run a distinctive counterfactual-conditioning style, routinely stating what conditions or contributions 'would likely have been sought' or 'would have been conditioned' even on schemes he ultimately refuses, giving unusually explicit visibility into what a resubmission would need to fix. He builds his own independently measured floor-area tables ('as demonstrated by the below table from measurements taken by officers') distinct from the applicant's submitted figures, treating officer-measured data as authoritative over the applicant's stated numbers where they diverge.

Observable habits

· states explicitly what conditions or Section 106 contributions 'would likely have been sought'/'would have been conditioned' had the scheme been recommended for approval, even inside a refusal report

· builds an independently officer-measured floor-area table ('measurements taken by officers') distinct from and preferred over the applicant's submitted planning-statement figures where the two diverge

· cross-references design elements against the officer's own report for a related prior application at a nearby site by exact reference number, rather than reassessing the same design point from scratch

What their reports consistently look for

· an independently officer-measured floor-area table, checked against the applicant's submitted figures for discrepancies

· explicit statement of what conditions/contributions would have applied had the application been recommended for approval

· cross-reference to a specific prior application by reference number for a design element already assessed at a nearby site

Assigned James Young 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

as demonstrated by the below table from measurements taken by officers and based on size of bedrooms/unit typology, two of the proposed flats would not provide the minimum amount of internal floor area required by the London Plan (2021)

21/03886/FUL

Had officers been minded to recommend for approval, a financial contribution would likely have been sought towards improvements to sustainable transport including but not limited to on-street car clubs with electric parking ports

21/03886/FUL

Measured from 52 published Croydon 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 52 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D3
25 times cited
DM10Design and character
24 times cited
D4
23 times cited
D12
3 times cited
DM10.6
2 times cited
DM1Housing choice for sustainable communities
2 times cited
SP1Growth in Croydon 2019-2040
2 times cited
DM33.1
2 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–21.[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
21/04074/HSE
Householder Application
Refused
2021-10-26
21/04253/FUL
Full planning permission
Refused
2021-10-21
21/04074/HSE
Householder Application
Refused
2021-10-26
21/04253/FUL
Full planning permission
Refused
2021-10-21
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. A1 PLANNING PORTAL
2. Ko Architects
3. Architecture IR
4. krsdesigns
At a glance
OfficerJames Young
BoroughCroydon
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications52 (2020–21)
Approval rate70%
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 Croydon planning register and published decision notices, 2020–21. · 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 Croydon 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 52 published Croydon 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.