Development Intent
AtlasEalingOfficersCatherine Holness
Case officer · Ealing Planning

Catherine Holness.

Last recorded decision Aug 2024 — no decisions in this record since

A case officer at Ealing with an approval rate of 78% across 405 decided planning applications, spanning 28 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer405 decisions78% approvalSave
Ealing · 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 →
405
Applications
2020–24
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%73%202084%202180%202253%202385%2024100%2025
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate78% · 29th of 44
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 reports134 officer reports parsed
16%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
9%
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 Ealing's average officer

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

Precedent & consistency
1.64× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.02× borough avg
Privacy & overlooking
0.96× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
0.96× borough avg
Transport & parking
0.94× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Holness's refusal reasoning stands out for weighing design against a NAMED prior approved/lawful scheme on the same property that was never built, treating the abandoned scheme's design language (roof form, materials) as the relevant benchmark rather than the surrounding street generally. She separates "Planning Considerations" (design/character) from "Residential Amenity" as two consistently distinct sub-headings across her householder reports, and is willing to describe a design as simply inferior to what could have been achieved ("would not be in keeping with the profile") without hedging.

Observable habits

· benchmarks a proposal's roof form/design against a specific named prior approved-but-unbuilt scheme on the SAME property, not just the surrounding street

· keeps "Planning Considerations" (design/character) and "Residential Amenity" as two consistently separate sub-headings rather than folding neighbour impact into the design section

· directly states where a proposed roof profile or design element would clash with the existing dwelling's own established form, without softening the criticism

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: a specific prior approved (even if unbuilt/expired) scheme on the same property, used as the design comparator rather than generic street character

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether the proposed roof pitch/profile visually matches or clashes with the existing dwelling's own roofline, assessed on its own terms

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether the proposed depth is only marginally beyond what permitted development would already allow, as a mitigating factor

Assigned Catherine Holness 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

Previously, there has been an approved lawful development certificate for a rear dormer extension, reference PP/2012/2043, however this was not built

200478HH

the pitched roof prof ile of the proposed extension would not be in keeping with the prof ile of the main roof of the existing dwellinghouse. The angle at which the roof of the extension is shown would interrupt the line of the main roof

200686HH

Measured from 134 published Ealing 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 134 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D3
54 times cited
D4
54 times cited
D5
30 times cited
D6
30 times cited
D8
20 times cited
T6
15 times cited
T5
13 times cited
T6.1
13 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–24.[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
240874FUL
Full Application
Approved
2025-03-03
240754FUL
Full Application
Approved
2024-09-20
240874FUL
Full Application
Approved
2025-03-03
240754FUL
Full Application
Approved
2024-09-20
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 405 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Plans 4 U Ltd
2. MoreSpace
3. Design Endeavours
4. Juttla Architects
At a glance
OfficerCatherine Holness
BoroughEaling
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications405 (2020–24)
Approval rate78%
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 Ealing planning register and published decision notices, 2020–24. · 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 Ealing 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 134 published Ealing 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.