Development Intent
AtlasMertonOfficersWendy Wong Chang
Case officer · Merton Planning

Wendy Wong Chang.

Active — last recorded decision May 2026

A case officer at Merton with an approval rate of 75% across 129 decided planning applications, spanning 22 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer129 decisions75% approvalSave
Merton · 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 →
129
Applications
2020–26
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%100%202272%202376%202472%2025100%2026
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate75% · 17th of 17
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 reports56 officer reports parsed
14%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
5%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
9%
"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 Merton's average officer

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

Flooding & drainage
1.78× borough avg
Transport & parking
1.58× borough avg
Energy & sustainability
1.34× borough avg
Noise & disturbance
1.23× borough avg
Trees & landscape
1.15× borough avg

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

Assigned Wendy Wong Chang 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

Policy H9 of the London Plan encourages the local planning authority to support HMOs where they are of a reasonable standard. This policy recognises the importance of HMOs in reducing pressure on other elements of the housing stock

20/P2579

Given evidence of terrace properties in the locality, the proposed will appear as a congruous form of development that is in keeping with the character and appearance of the surrounding

22/P1804

Measured from 56 published Merton 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 56 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

CS14Design. Strategic
40 times cited
DM D2
40 times cited
D4
37 times cited
D3List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest
35 times cited
DM D3
26 times cited
T6
25 times cited
CS18Active Transport. Strategic
25 times cited
CS20Parking, Servicing and Delivery. Strategic
25 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

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.

Recent applications
Address
Reference
Type
Outcome
Date
25/P1576
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-06-04
25/P1576
Full Planning Permission
Approved
2026-06-04
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 129 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Bell Cornwell LLP
2. Planning Additions
3. Revive Renovations Ltd
4. Valerie Scott Planning
At a glance
OfficerWendy Wong Chang
BoroughMerton
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications129 (2020–26)
Approval rate75%
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 Merton planning register and published decision notices, 2020–26. · 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 — Merton's decision-notice parsing is limited coverage, so no borough or officer figure is shown.
  4. [4]"How this officer decides", the policy playbook and all quotes — parsed from 56 published Merton 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.