Development Intent
AtlasWestminsterOfficersRebecca Mason
Case officer · Westminster Planning

Rebecca Mason.

Last recorded decision May 2021 — no decisions in this record since

A case officer at Westminster with an approval rate of 92% across 127 decided planning applications, spanning 13 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer127 decisions92% approvalSave
Westminster · 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 →
127
Applications
2020–21
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%92%202093%2021
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate92% · 29th of 76
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 reports85 officer reports parsed
8%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
23%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
0%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
80%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Westminster's average officer

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

Daylight & sunlight
1.66× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.66× borough avg
Character & heritage
1.34× borough avg
Materials & detailing
1.3× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.23× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Mason regularly deals with RETROSPECTIVE listed-building applications following Planning Enforcement investigations, and is candid that submitting applications post-completion is 'not encouraged' while still assessing each on its own merits. She distinguishes fabric that has been CONCEALED but not physically removed (skirting boards encased behind new panelling) from fabric genuinely lost, treating concealment-without-loss as acceptable, and names multiple directly comparable precedent applications on the SAME street by address and reference to justify accepting a compromised internal alteration.

Observable habits

· assesses retrospective applications following Planning Enforcement investigation on their own merits while explicitly noting that post-completion submission is 'not encouraged' by the process

· distinguishes fabric that has been concealed but not physically removed (skirtings encased behind new panelling) from fabric genuinely lost, treating concealment-without-loss as acceptable subject to reversibility

· names multiple directly comparable precedent applications on the SAME street by address and reference to justify accepting an internal alteration in an already-compromised interior

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether a retrospective application follows a Planning Enforcement investigation, assessed on its own merits despite the process being discouraged

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether fabric has been genuinely removed/lost or merely concealed (and reversibly so) behind new work

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: multiple named comparable precedent applications on the SAME street, cited by address and reference

Assigned Rebecca Mason 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 regrettable that applications have been submitted post completion of developments to the application site and this is not encouraged by the planning application process, however the Local Planning Authority is duty bound to assess an application on its own merits when submitted

20/00024/FULL

the existing skirtings have been retained behind the panelling; photographs have been provided to demonstrate that the skirtings are encased within the new timberwork

20/00237/FULL

Measured from 85 published Westminster 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 85 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

ENV 13
6 times cited
DES 5
4 times cited
DES 9
4 times cited
S29
4 times cited
H3
3 times cited
DES 1
3 times cited
DES 10
3 times cited
DES 6
3 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–21.[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
21/02810/LBC
Listed Building Consent Application
Approved
2021-06-18
21/02809/FULL
Full Planning Permission Application
Approved
2021-06-18
21/02810/LBC
Listed Building Consent Application
Approved
2021-06-18
21/02809/FULL
Full Planning Permission Application
Approved
2021-06-18
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Paper Project architecture & design ltd
2. Inter Developments Consultants
3. gaby higgs architects ltd
4. SG Architecture
At a glance
OfficerRebecca Mason
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications127 (2020–21)
Approval rate92%
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 Westminster planning register and published decision notices, 2020–21. · 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 Westminster 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 85 published Westminster 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.