Development Intent
Case officer · Richmond Upon Thames Planning

Ellie Cooke.

Active — last recorded decision Feb 2026

A case officer at Richmond Upon Thames with an approval rate of 72% across 194 decided planning applications, spanning 13 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer194 decisions72% approvalSave
Richmond Upon Thames · 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 →
194
Applications
2024–26
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%68%202470%202586%2026
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate72% · 59th of 67
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 reports228 officer reports parsed
18%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
1%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
4%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
59%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Richmond Upon Thames's average officer

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

Daylight & sunlight
1.9× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.36× borough avg
Flooding & drainage
1.36× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.27× borough avg
Trees & landscape
1.1× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Cooke's reports consistently reference the site's planning history of a previous refusal on the same scheme, describing the specific amendments made since (setbacks added, ridge lowered, glazing obscured) and evaluating whether those changes are sufficient to overcome the earlier objection. She addresses named individual neighbouring addresses by number when assessing amenity impact rather than a generic neighbour paragraph.

Observable habits

· opens design assessment by referencing a specific prior refusal reference for the same site and lists the amendments made since to address it

· walks through amenity impact address-by-address (e.g. 'No. 99', 'No. 95') rather than a single blended neighbour-amenity conclusion

· flags a scheme as 'not strictly policy compliant' on a numeric SPD threshold but still finds it acceptable in context, explicitly naming the shortfall

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: what specifically changed in a resubmitted scheme compared to the version that was previously refused

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: amenity impact assessed separately for each individually named neighbouring property rather than in aggregate

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether remaining garden space meets the SPD's numeric benchmark (e.g. 40m2 for a 2-bedroom property)

Assigned Ellie Cooke 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

Since the previous refusal under planning application 23/3033/HOT, the proposal has been amended to reduce its visual bulk and general impact on the existing character. Specifically, the two storey-side extension has been setback 1 metre from the front, has a lowered ridge and has incorporated obscured glazed windows on the side elevations.

24/2115/HOT

No. 99 The neighbouring dwellinghouse located at No. 99 has an existing single storey rear extension which directly abuts the subject site. The proposed extension would project approximately 1.3 beyond this extension.

24/2253/HOT

It is noted that while the extension is slightly more than half the width of the house and as such not strictly policy compliant, rear extensions are sited within the streetscape and are therefore not considered out of character.

24/2286/FUL Flat 1 148 Argyle Avenue Whitton Hounslow TW3 2LS First floor rear extension, loft conversion rear dormer ECO

Measured from 228 published Richmond Upon Thames 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 228 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D4Teddington Station
152 times cited
D12Teddington School
128 times cited
HC1
21 times cited
D14
11 times cited
D5Queens Road Clinic
8 times cited
D6The Causeway, Teddington
7 times cited
D11
4 times cited
D3Teddington Library
2 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2024–26.[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
PA26/0225
Full Application
Approved
2026-03-11
PA26/0080
Householder Application
Refused
2026-03-09
PA26/0225
Full Application
Approved
2026-03-11
PA26/0080
Householder Application
Refused
2026-03-09
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 194 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. 50 Degrees North Ltd
2. Design
3. LONDON CONSULTANTS LTD
4. Good Design and Build
At a glance
OfficerEllie Cooke
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications194 (2024–26)
Approval rate72%
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 Richmond Upon Thames planning register and published decision notices, 2024–26. · 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 — Richmond Upon Thames's decision-notice parsing is limited coverage, so no borough or officer figure is shown.
  4. [4]"How this officer decides", the policy playbook and all quotes — parsed from 228 published Richmond Upon Thames 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.