Development Intent
AtlasKingston Upon ThamesOfficersSean Osullivan
Case officer · Kingston Upon Thames Planning

Sean O'Sullivan.

Last recorded decision Jan 2023 — no decisions in this record since

A case officer at Kingston Upon Thames with an approval rate of 67% across 213 decided planning applications, spanning 35 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer213 decisions67% approvalSave
Kingston Upon Thames · 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 →
213
Applications
2020–23
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%68%202168%202257%2023
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate67% · 24th of 32
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 reports35 officer reports parsed
0%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
0%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
0%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
71%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Kingston Upon Thames's average officer

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

Outlook & amenity
2.26× borough avg
Transport & parking
2.25× borough avg
Character & heritage
1.55× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

O'Sullivan is distinctive for a precise, arithmetic scrutiny of space standards on flat-conversion/subdivision schemes -- calculating the exact Gross Internal Area shortfall against the National Space Standards to the decimal square metre rather than a general 'adequate/inadequate' finding -- and for refusing where car-parking allocation between multiple units is left unclear on submitted drawings rather than assuming it can be resolved by condition. He has a comparatively higher refusal comfort reflecting a caseload weighted toward flat-conversion schemes where exact compliance is readily calculable and where marginal shortfalls are treated as a firm refusal ground.

Observable habits

· calculates exact Gross Internal Area shortfalls against National Space Standards to the decimal square metre, rather than a general adequacy finding

· refuses flat-conversion schemes where car-parking allocation between multiple units is unclear from submitted drawings, rather than assuming it can be resolved by condition

· treats a 'contrived' or convoluted internal layout (e.g. requiring residents to travel via a narrow corridor to reach amenity space) as a standalone standard-of-accommodation objection

What their reports consistently look for

· the precise decimal square-metre shortfall (or surplus) against the National Space Standards minimum GIA for the stated bedroom/person count

· whether car-parking spaces are clearly allocated between multiple proposed units on the submitted drawings

· whether the internal layout requires a convoluted or 'contrived' route to reach private amenity space

Assigned Sean O'Sullivan 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 upper floor flat is stated to have a GIA of 84.5sqm, a shortfall of 5.5sqm

21/02580/FUL

insufficient information has been submitted to demonstrate that the proposed car parking would be sufficient in size and how it would be allocated between…the proposed flats

21/02580/FUL

Measured from 35 published Kingston Upon Thames 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 35 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D3
2 times cited
DM12Development in Conservation Areas and Affecting Heritage Assets
2 times cited
DM10Design Requirements for New Developments (including House Extensions)134
2 times cited
HC1
1 times cited
CS8Character, Design and Heritage
1 times cited
G7
1 times cited
G6
1 times cited
T6Management and Improvement of
1 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2020–23.[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
22/03457/HOU
Householder
Approved
2023-02-10
22/03914/HOU
Householder
Approved
2023-02-10
22/03457/HOU
Householder
Approved
2023-02-10
22/03914/HOU
Householder
Approved
2023-02-10
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 213 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Resi
2. Annco Design Limited
3. MBL Associates Limited
4. Studio Charrette
At a glance
OfficerSean O'Sullivan
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications213 (2020–23)
Approval rate67%
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 Kingston Upon Thames planning register and published decision notices, 2020–23. · 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 Kingston Upon Thames 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 35 published Kingston Upon Thames 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.