Development Intent
AtlasTower HamletsCommittee
Planning AtlasTower HamletsPlanning Committee
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London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Planning committee.

Tower Hamlets's planning committee decides the applications officers don't settle under delegation. It approved 82% of the 125 decisions that reached it, hears just 0.9% of decisions to committee, and of the 16 refusals traced in recent minutes, 5 were overturned at appeal. Where it acts, and on what, is below.[1]

Labour majority125 committee decisions2020–26
Tower Hamlets · ward map
Approval rate — by ward
Lower ~68%
Higher ~90%
At a glanceEach metric links to the investigation behind it
All investigations →
125
Committee decisions
2020–26
Members
Labour majority
ShowingAll years · subscriber →across all years on record — a period re-scopes the headline figures and the trend
Public planning-committee records, minutes and decision notices. Conduct in an official capacity only.
Members refusing officer-recommended approvals — London-wide[3]Dashed line = average per year
avg 4492016302017212018382019652020552021582022462023512024702025

Committee refusals of officer-recommended approvals traced in minutes across all 33 boroughs, by year. Tower Hamlets's own officer-alignment trend needs the officer recommendation on each committee item — a minutes-level source still being loaded.

What goes to committee — by application type[1]
Full Planning Permission: 78% — click to filter the pageListed Building Consent (S8 P&LBC 1990): 8% — click to filter the pageVariation / Removal Condition (TCPA S73): 7%Outline Planning Permission: 3%Other: 4%
Full Planning Permission78%
Listed Building Consent (S8 P&LBC 1990)8%
Variation / Removal Condition (TCPA S73)7%
Outline Planning Permission3%
Other4%

Share of the 92 committee decisions on record. The call-in reason itself comes from committee minutes — not yet loaded.

In contextVersus London committees
Refusals in committee minutes16 · 19th of 33
lower is betterdashed = London avg
Refused against officer advice ⚠ unverified4 · 20th of 33
lower is betterdashed = London avg
Refusals overturned at appeal5 · 9th of 33
lower is betterdashed = London avg
Grounds the committee acts on[2]

The policies most often cited on Tower Hamlets refusal notices — borough-wide, across officer and committee decisions alike. Which of these specifically drove a committee departure from the officer recommendation needs minute-level coding, not yet loaded, so the two aren't separated below.

NPPF72×
policies D4 and HC1 of the London Plan (2021)46×
policies 7.4 and 7.6 of the London Plan (2016)34×
DH3 of the Tower Hamlets Local Plan 203132×
DH3 of the Tower Hamlets Local Plan (2020)31×
DH8 of the Tower Hamlets Local Plan 203128×
policies 7.4, 7.6 and 7.8 of the London Plan (2016)21×
policies D1, HC1, D4 of the London Plan (2021)18×

282 high-confidence refusal notices parsed for Tower Hamlets. How often a refusal on each ground survives appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

How Tower Hamlets applies its planning policies →
Decisions by ward

Where the 80 committee decisions on record land, 2020–26.[1] Click the map above to explore spatially, or a row to open the ward.

The members — votes recorded

Member by member: the planning-committee votes recorded against each councillor in the published minutes, and how they lean.[2] How often each votes with the officer recommendation needs the officer rec on every item — not yet loaded, so it isn't shown.

Committee membership for Tower Hamlets is still being matched from the minutes — no member-level voting records to show yet.

Meeting minutes

The committee figures on this page are derived from Tower Hamlets's published decision notices and committee minutes. Agendas, full minutes and webcasts are published on the council's own democracy website — the source of truth for every meeting.

How these figures are derived — methodology ↗
Recent committee decisions
Address
Reference
Type
Outcome
Date
PA/24/00268/A1
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-03-02
PA/23/02097/A1
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-02-27
PA/24/00268/A1
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-03-02
PA/23/02097/A1
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-02-27
Full decision history locked
Subscribe to see all 80 decisions →
Committee members— subscriber data

Committee membership for Tower Hamlets is still being matched from the minutes.

At a glance
CommitteePlanning Committee
ControlLabour majority
Members
Decisions125 (2020–26)
Committee approval82%
Delegated99.1%
Who decides here
GovernmentMayor of LondonCouncilCommitteeOfficersDecisionsApplicantsInspectorate
Committee members

Still being matched from the minutes.

Related investigations
Committee Watch →
When members overturn the officer line — and how those calls fare at appeal.
The politics of housing in Tower Hamlets
Council composition, and how each councillor votes on planning applications.
Sources & method
  1. [1]Committee vs delegated split, committee approval rate and every committee-decided application — the decision-level field on Tower Hamlets's published decision notices, 2020–26. · methodology
  2. [2]Committee membership, party control and per-member vote counts — Tower Hamlets membership records and published planning-committee minutes; member matching across inconsistent name forms is still being completed.
  3. [3]Refusals against officer advice and appeal outcomes — committee minutes cross-matched with Planning Inspectorate appeal decisions (Committee Watch dataset, all 33 boroughs). · Committee Watch
Methodology is published in full so every number is traceable to its primary source.