Sebastian Knox.
Active — last recorded decision May 2026
A case officer at Westminster with an approval rate of 95% across 319 decided planning applications, spanning 16 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.
Topic mentions per 1,000 words of their own report text (boilerplate stripped), indexed against all parsed Westminster reports. Attention, not stance.
Mark = borough average (1×). Bar capped at 2×.
Knox's Pimlico/Covent Garden listed-building work is precise about a building's specific documented later alteration date (a kitchen or plan-form dating from a mid-20th-century flat conversion) to justify why further internal change is acceptable, and he records negotiated design reductions during the application (a projecting sign reduced for highway clearance, a menu box reduced for appearance). He explicitly names an evidentiary threshold for wholesale window replacement — existing fabric must be 'beyond feasible repair', supported by detailed section drawings — rather than accepting replacement on preference alone.
· identifies a building's specific documented later alteration date (a mid-20th-century flat conversion) to justify why further internal change to that already-altered part is acceptable
· requires detailed evidence (section drawings, condition assessment) demonstrating fabric is genuinely 'beyond feasible repair' before accepting wholesale window replacement, rather than replacement on preference
· records specific negotiated design reductions made during determination (a projecting sign reduced for highway clearance, subdivided glazing simplified) as resolving an initial design concern
· what this officer's reports consistently look for: the specific documented date a part of a listed building was already altered (e.g. converted to flats), setting the bar for further change
· what this officer's reports consistently look for: detailed evidence (section drawings, condition assessment) that fabric is genuinely beyond feasible repair before accepting wholesale replacement
· what this officer's reports consistently look for: a specific negotiated design reduction made during determination that resolves an initial design or highway concern
“the existing windows are in poor condition and have been repair several times previously and are now deemed to be beyond feasible repair”
20/00120/FULL
“The projecting sign has been reduced in size during determination in order to ensure the necessary highways clearance”
20/01356/LBC
Measured from 205 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.
The policies this officer cites most in their own reports — times cited across 205 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.
Show all 16 rows
Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–26.[1] Click the map above to focus this page on a ward, or a row to open the ward.
- [1]Applications decided, approval rate, per-year trend and ward breakdown — London Borough of Westminster planning register and published decision notices, 2020–26. · methodology
- [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]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]"How this officer decides", the policy playbook and all quotes — parsed from 205 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.