Development Intent
Case officer · Richmond Upon Thames Planning

Sarah Haous.

Recently active — last recorded decision Feb 2025

A case officer at Richmond Upon Thames with an approval rate of 60% across 31 decided planning applications, spanning 10 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer31 decisions60% 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 →
31
Applications
2024–25
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%71%202450%2025
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate60% · 65th 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 reports30 officer reports parsed
0%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
11%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
0%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
42%
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
2.33× borough avg
Privacy & overlooking
2.13× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
2.07× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.41× borough avg
Trees & landscape
1.17× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Haous's reports frequently describe a site visit conducted on a specific date to check a named neighbour's concern (e.g. light pollution), and she records both supporting and objecting neighbour comments by house number before reaching a conclusion. In refusal reports she quotes Urban Design consultee comments directly and in full rather than paraphrasing them.

Observable habits

· records a site visit on a specific date undertaken to check a specific neighbour objection (e.g. light pollution, height impact) before concluding on it

· cites supporting and objecting neighbours individually by house number rather than summarising 'objections received'

· quotes Urban Design/consultee comments verbatim in reports recommending refusal, rather than paraphrasing the consultee's concern

· flags where a lack of information (e.g. no BRE assessment, inaccurate depiction of a neighbour's windows on plans) prevents a full amenity assessment

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: a dated site visit specifically addressing the neighbour's stated concern (e.g. light pollution, overlooking)

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether the plans accurately depict a neighbouring property's existing windows/features, since inaccuracies are treated as undermining the amenity assessment

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: direct quotation of the Urban Design consultee's comments on design/scale rather than a summarised finding

Assigned Sarah Haous 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

A site visit was conducted on the 16th of October 2024. During this site visit, it was confirmed that light pollution would not be of great impact to neighbouring properties

24/2302/HOT

The proposals would achieve what appears to be only a very cramped mezzanine room. Externally, however, the proposed side dormer would appear oversized. It does not reflect guidance in the House Extensions and External Alterations SPD in terms of respecting existing scale by not being stepped down from the ridge.

24/2475/HOT

an objection was received from the adjoining pair with concerns of overshadowing onto their garden, as well as inaccurate portrayals of their property on the proposed plans, where their property was drawn as having a fenestrated door and one window, when in fact it was raised in the objection that they have two windows

24/3101/HOT

Measured from 30 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 30 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D12Teddington School
17 times cited
D4Teddington Station
16 times cited
D6The Causeway, Teddington
14 times cited
HC1
5 times cited
SD6
2 times cited
SD8
2 times cited
GG1
1 times cited
D8
1 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2024–25.[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
PA25/0195
Householder Application
Approved
2025-04-17
24/3133/HOT
Householder Application
Approved
2025-04-09
PA25/0195
Householder Application
Approved
2025-04-17
24/3133/HOT
Householder Application
Approved
2025-04-09
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Grainne O'Keeffe Architects Ltd
2. MKM Design & Construction Limited
3. Arkiplan Architectural Ltd
At a glance
OfficerSarah Haous
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications31 (2024–25)
Approval rate60%
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, 2024–25. · 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 30 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.