Development Intent
AtlasHarrowOfficersBen Greene
Case officer · Harrow Planning

Ben Greene.

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

A case officer at Harrow with an approval rate of 79% across 183 decided planning applications, spanning 12 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer183 decisions79% approvalSave
Harrow · 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 →
183
Applications
2022–24
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%100%202278%202380%2024
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate79% · 24th of 72
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 reports94 officer reports parsed
4%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
1%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
6%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
60%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Harrow's average officer

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

Outlook & amenity
1.36× borough avg
Precedent & consistency
1.3× borough avg
Character & heritage
1.27× borough avg
Materials & detailing
1.05× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.04× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Greene's outbuilding and garden-structure reports work systematically through what the structure is used for and whether that use is genuinely ancillary to the main dwelling, treating independent accessibility (a separate front door/gate onto the street) as the deciding factor for whether an outbuilding risks becoming a self-contained dwelling. His refusals on locally listed/conservation area sites cite appeal decisions on the same or comparable sites by reference.

Observable habits

· on outbuildings, treats independent street-facing access (separate front door, independent gate/path) as the deciding factor for whether a structure would function as a self-contained dwelling rather than ancillary space

· cites prior appeal decisions on the same site by their APP reference number to support a design refusal

· assesses outbuilding overlooking risk via the specific compass-facing elevation of each opening rather than a blanket overlooking statement

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether an outbuilding has independent street-facing access, which would suggest a risk of separate dwelling use

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: the specific appeal reference (APP/...) for a comparable prior refusal on the same or a similar site

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: the compass-facing direction of each proposed opening when assessing overlooking risk to a specific neighbour

Assigned Ben Greene 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 proposed outbuilding would be independently accessible via the main street frontage along Capel Gardens with a front door fronting the street and with an independent entrance gate and path

PL/0071/23

the inspector noting that while the side extension would be subservient in nature, have a sympathetic roof form and single storey height, the proposed development would subsequently appear disproportionately large

PL/0158/23

Measured from 94 published Harrow 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 94 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D3
41 times cited
D12
40 times cited
DM1Achieving a High Standard of Development
40 times cited
DM10On Site Water Management and Surface Water Attenuation
40 times cited
CS1.B
37 times cited
D11
14 times cited
DM2Achieving Lifetime Neighbourhoods
13 times cited
HC1
4 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2022–24.[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
PL/0065/23
Householder
Approved
2024-05-08
PL/0629/24
Householder
Approved
2024-05-03
PL/0065/23
Householder
Approved
2024-05-08
PL/0629/24
Householder
Approved
2024-05-03
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Shah Designs Limited
2. SSK Architects Ltd
3. Smart Planning Designs Ltd
4. R.P. Architectural Services
At a glance
OfficerBen Greene
BoroughHarrow
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications183 (2022–24)
Approval rate79%
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 Harrow planning register and published decision notices, 2022–24. · 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 Harrow 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 94 published Harrow 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.