Development Intent
Case officer · Hammersmith And Fulham Planning

Ian Opolot.

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

A case officer at Hammersmith And Fulham with an approval rate of 93% across 139 decided planning applications, spanning 9 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer139 decisions93% approvalSave
Hammersmith And Fulham · 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 →
139
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 rate93% · 24th of 45
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 reports59 officer reports parsed
2%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
0%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
3%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
96%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Hammersmith And Fulham's average officer

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

Daylight & sunlight
2.38× borough avg
Flooding & drainage
2.3× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.45× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.45× borough avg
Materials & detailing
0.91× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Opolot's caseload is dominated by rear/ground floor extensions and lightwells with a comparatively high refusal share, and he is distinctive for finding a rear extension acceptable where it would be 'built to an identical depth' to a specific named neighbouring property, treating exact depth-matching as a decisive fact even where the extension formally does not comply with the 3.5m guidance. On marginal 45-degree infringements, he references the neighbour's OWN intention to build a similar extension of comparable design and dimensions as a further mitigating factor, going beyond existing built form to also weigh a neighbour's disclosed future plans.

Observable habits

· finds a rear extension acceptable where it would be built to an IDENTICAL depth to a specific named neighbouring property, treating exact matching as decisive even where the guideline figure is technically breached

· weighs a neighbour's own disclosed INTENTION to build a similar extension of comparable design and dimensions as a further mitigating factor for a marginal 45-degree infringement, beyond existing built form alone

· cites the specific separation distance and orientation between a proposed development and named neighbouring properties as the basis for finding no significant loss of daylight or outlook, rather than a bare guideline check

What their reports consistently look for

· whether a rear extension would be built to an identical depth to a specific named neighbouring property, even where this technically breaches the standard guideline figure

· whether the affected neighbour has disclosed their own intention to build a comparable extension of similar design and dimensions

· the specific separation distance and orientation between the proposed development and named neighbouring properties

Assigned Ian Opolot 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

the development is considered acceptable as it is to be built to an identical depth to that of No. 4, and there will be no significant impacts to the amenity of No. 4 as a result of the development

2020/00060/FUL

it is understood that No. 2 Albert Terrace are considering to erect a rear extensionn of similar design and dimensio

2020/01022/FUL

Measured from 59 published Hammersmith And Fulham 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 59 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

DC1Built environment quality and integration
53 times cited
DC4High standard of design for alterations and extensions
50 times cited
HO11Detailed Residential Standards
46 times cited
DC8Heritage and conservation: Buildings at risk
43 times cited
CC11Noise and Vibration Control for Developments
36 times cited
CC13Control of potentially polluting uses and environmental nuisance
34 times cited
CC3Flood Risk Assessment Requirement
28 times cited
CC4Minimising surface water run-off with Sustainable Drainage Systems
20 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
2021/00276/FUL
Full Planning Application
Refused
2021-12-08
2021/00541/LBC
Listed Building Consent
Refused
2021-12-08
2021/00276/FUL
Full Planning Application
Refused
2021-12-08
2021/00541/LBC
Listed Building Consent
Refused
2021-12-08
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Ms Georgina Turvey / Peek Architecture Ltd
2. Mr Felix Padfield / felix db limited
3. Mr Steve Baker / Sublime Retail Display ltd
4. Mr Damian Hosker / WHP Telecoms Limited
At a glance
OfficerIan Opolot
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications139 (2020–21)
Approval rate93%
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 Hammersmith And Fulham 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 Hammersmith And Fulham 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 59 published Hammersmith And Fulham 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.