Development Intent
AtlasCroydonOfficersPaul Young
Case officer · Croydon Planning

Paul Young.

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

A case officer at Croydon with an approval rate of 80% across 40 decided planning applications, spanning 14 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer40 decisions80% 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 →
40
Applications
2020–21
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%75%2020100%2021100%2022
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate80% · 17th 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 reports40 officer reports parsed
3%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
10%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
13%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
83%
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.

Transport & parking
1.67× borough avg
Noise & disturbance
1.17× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.13× borough avg
Trees & landscape
1.05× borough avg
Daylight & sunlight
0.76× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Young's caseload is dominated by flat conversions and small multi-unit schemes, and he consistently presents a numbered unit-by-unit GIA/private-amenity-space table (required vs provided in sqm) before reaching a mix/quality finding, rather than a qualitative description. On the DM1/SP2.7 housing-mix tests he treats a strategic 30% three-bed target as a genuine independent test that can trigger refusal even where GIA/amenity standards are otherwise met, and separately, on parking, he is willing to model likely car ownership using TfL borough-level year-on-year growth data against a specific ward's census figures rather than applying a flat London Plan maximum uncritically.

Observable habits

· presents a numbered unit-by-unit table of GIA and private amenity space (required vs provided, in sqm) for every unit before reaching a mix/quality finding, rather than a qualitative summary

· treats the SP2.7 30% three-or-more-bedroom strategic target as an independently testable requirement that can support refusal even where individual unit quality/GIA standards are otherwise met

· models likely car ownership demand using TfL borough-level year-on-year growth percentages applied to ward-level census data, rather than applying a flat London Plan parking maximum uncritically

What their reports consistently look for

· the precise required-vs-provided GIA and private amenity space in square metres for every unit in a scheme

· whether the scheme meets the SP2.7 30% three-or-more-bedroom strategic target, tested independently of unit quality

· modelled likely car ownership demand using TfL growth data applied to the relevant ward's census figures, rather than a flat parking maximum

Assigned Paul 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

The proposed development would not provide any three bedroom units, and so would not meet this target.

20/01236/FUL

Census data for the Norbury ward, factoring a 0.75% increase in car ownership per year (from TFL data) would suggest that the residential aspect of the development would generate 3.75 cars.

20/01236/FUL

Measured from 40 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 40 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

SP8.15
19 times cited
DM10.6
16 times cited
DM1.2
3 times cited
3.4
2 times cited
DM10.1
2 times cited
6.13
2 times cited
SP2.1
1 times cited
DM10Design and character
1 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
20/03470/FUL
Full planning permission
Approved
2022-02-21
20/04088/FUL
Full planning permission
Approved
2021-10-21
20/03470/FUL
Full planning permission
Approved
2022-02-21
20/04088/FUL
Full planning permission
Approved
2021-10-21
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Carter Jonas LLP
2. EdgePlan
3. CANOPY PLANNING SERVICES LTD
4. Hillman Design Ltd
At a glance
OfficerPaul Young
BoroughCroydon
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications40 (2020–21)
Approval rate80%
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 40 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.