Development Intent
AtlasNewhamOfficersJo Johnson
Case officer · Newham Planning

Jo Johnson.

Active — last recorded decision Apr 2026

A case officer at Newham with an approval rate of 48% across 53 decided planning applications, spanning 16 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer53 decisions48% approvalSave
Newham · 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 →
53
Applications
2020–26
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%40%202064%202133%202250%202325%202444%202550%2026
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate48% · 37th of 39
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 reports46 officer reports parsed
36%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
24%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
9%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
67%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Newham's average officer

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

Character & heritage
2.41× borough avg
Precedent & consistency
1.3× borough avg
Materials & detailing
1.27× borough avg
Noise & disturbance
1.21× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
0.77× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Johnson's major town-centre/roof-extension refusals give a granular, standards-based critique of internal quality (floor-to-ceiling heights measured in metres against the recommended minimum, window sizing per room) rather than a general design objection, and her summary sections explicitly state that a design failure alone is sufficient without needing an amenity finding.

Observable habits

· measures internal floor-to-ceiling heights in metres against the specific recommended minimum (2.5m) rather than a qualitative judgement

· identifies individual undersized windows/rooms by name (e.g. the second-floor bedroom) as the basis for a quality-of-accommodation objection

· states explicitly that a design or place-making failure is sufficient grounds for refusal on its own, independent of other considerations

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: the measured floor-to-ceiling height against the specific recommended minimum, not a general 'adequate' finding

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: which individual room/window is undersized, named specifically rather than described generally

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether a design failure alone, independent of other findings, is sufficient grounds for refusal

Assigned Jo Johnson 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 plans specify floor to ceiling heights of 2.44m at ground floor and first floor, while the floor to ceiling height at second floor would only be 2.3m; well below the recommended minimum

20/00713/FUL

the design components of this proposal are considered unacceptable… No efforts have been made to enhance the visual amenity and character of the public realm as required by policy

20/00713/FUL

Measured from 46 published Newham 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 46 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

SP1Borough
24 times cited
SP2Healthy Neighbourhoods
24 times cited
SP3and J1). These are indicated in relevant spatial policies and more extensively but not
24 times cited
SP8Neighbourly development and living conditions
22 times cited
S6Urban Newham
20 times cited
D3
18 times cited
H1Stepped housing target for strategic sites delivery
18 times cited
D1
18 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward
Recent applications
Address
Reference
Type
Outcome
Date
26/00490/HH
Householder Application
Withdrawn
2026-03-30
26/00024/FUL
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-03-20
26/00490/HH
Householder Application
Withdrawn
2026-03-30
26/00024/FUL
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-03-20
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Kompas London
2. marood architects
3. SMART SKILLS LTD
4. Town & County Valuers & Surveyors
At a glance
OfficerJo Johnson
BoroughNewham
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications53 (2020–26)
Approval rate48%
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 Newham planning register and published decision notices, 2020–26. · 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 Newham 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 46 published Newham 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.