Development Intent
AtlasSouthwarkOfficersDan Cooklin Smith
Planning Atlas›Southwark›Dan Cooklin-Smith
Case officer · Southwark Planning

Dan Cooklin-Smith.

Last recorded decision Aug 2023 — no decisions in this record since

A case officer at Southwark with an approval rate of 86% across 110 decided planning applications, spanning 22 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer110 decisions86% approvalSave
Southwark · 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 →
110
Applications
2020–23
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%80%202093%2021100%2022
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compare — Versus peers
Approval rate86% · 49th of 79
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 reports67 officer reports parsed
23%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
2%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
5%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
65%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Southwark's average officer

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

Transport & parking
1.83× borough avg
Noise & disturbance
1.47× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.35× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.24× borough avg
Daylight & sunlight
1.1× borough avg

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

Assigned Dan Cooklin-Smith 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

“It is therefore likely that occupiers of the upper floors of the rear of 503 and 505 Lordship Lane will have direct visibility into the kitchen and living space of any residents of the proposed development. This is considered to be unacceptable when considering the quality of accommodation”

20/AP/2289

“Sudrey Street has a well established urban form with a 'shoulder height' set at 3 storeys as defined by nearby buildings including the nearby Gable Cottages”

20/AP/2531

Measured from 67 published Southwark 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 67 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

13Other locations of tall buildings
30 times cited
2
1 times cited
P34Development within railway arches
1 times cited
H2
1 times cited
12- Sports facilities
1 times cited
HC1Paragraph Heritage
1 times cited
D4Good
1 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward
Ward
Decisions
Approval rate
19
82%
10
90%
7
100%
7
83%
7
86%
6
100%
6
100%
6
80%
5
80%
5
100%
5
80%
5
100%
4
75%
3
50%
3
67%
3
100%
2
50%
2
50%
2
100%
1
100%
1
100%
1
100%
19
82%
10
90%
7
100%
Show all 22 rows
7
83%
7
86%
6
100%
6
100%
6
80%
5
80%
5
100%
5
80%
5
100%
4
75%
3
50%
3
67%
3
100%
2
50%
2
50%
2
100%
1
100%
1
100%
1
100%

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–23.[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/AP/1065
Minor application
Approved
2022-06-21
21/AP/2611
Minor application
Approved
2022-01-24
21/AP/1065
Minor application
Approved
2022-06-21
21/AP/2611
Minor application
Approved
2022-01-24
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 110 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. LOREN DESIGN LTD
2. Advance Architecture
3. DP9 Ltd
4. Summit Architecture
At a glance
OfficerDan Cooklin-Smith
BoroughSouthwark
RolePlanning officer
Experience—
Applications110 (2020–23)
Approval rate86%
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 Southwark planning register and published decision notices, 2020–23. · 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 Southwark 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 67 published Southwark 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.