Development Intent
AtlasNewhamOfficersRobert Ward
Case officer · Newham Planning

Robert Ward.

Active — last recorded decision May 2026

A case officer at Newham with an approval rate of 81% across 89 decided planning applications, spanning 22 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer89 decisions81% approvalSave
Newham · 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 →
89
Applications
2024–26
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%76%202585%2026
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate81% · 19th of 39
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 reports73 officer reports parsed
7%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
7%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
3%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
48%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Newham's average officer

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

Bulk & massing
1.61× borough avg
Materials & detailing
1.32× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
0.88× borough avg
Privacy & overlooking
0.81× borough avg
Character & heritage
0.73× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Ward handles a notably diverse case mix (householder extensions, telecoms prior approval, CLP, LLDC major sites) and adapts his framing to the application type each time — citing LLDC Local Plan policy codes for telecoms sites, GPDO parapet-wall criteria for CLP refusals, and standard neighbourly-development language for extensions — rather than defaulting to one template.

Observable habits

· cites the LLDC Local Plan (2020) policy codes specifically (rather than Newham's borough-wide Local Plan) when the site sits within the LLDC area

· gives an explicit visual-impact finding for telecoms/mast installations based on street-level visibility and separation from pedestrian routes

· identifies the specific dimension (e.g. eaves height exceeding the original dwellinghouse) that fails a named GPDO criterion for a CLP refusal

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: which local plan (LLDC vs Newham borough-wide) governs the site, and its own specific policy codes

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: street-level visibility and pedestrian/highway safety findings for telecoms installations

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: the exact GPDO criterion (e.g. eaves height limit) that is or is not met for a CLP application

Assigned Robert Ward 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

Within the LLDC Local Plan (2020) policies BN1 and S6 are relevant when assessing applications related to Telecommunications Equipment

17/00122/FUL_LLDC

A.1 (d) � The height of the eaves would exceed the height of the original dwellinghouse. A dormer extension, to constitute extension development under Class B, effectively needs to demonstrate it is visibly set in from the party/parapet walls

25/01753/CLP

Measured from 73 published Newham 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 73 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

D1
2 times cited
D3
2 times cited
D4
2 times cited
D14
2 times cited
SP1Borough
2 times cited
SP2Healthy Neighbourhoods
2 times cited
SP3and J1). These are indicated in relevant spatial policies and more extensively but not
2 times cited
SP8Neighbourly development and living conditions
2 times cited
Which policies this officer leans on is subscriber intelligenceSubscribe to unlock →
Decisions by ward

Where this officer's caseload concentrates, 2024–26.[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
26/00838/FUL
Full Planning Permission
Withdrawn
2026-06-10
26/00213/FUL
Full Planning Permission
Refused
2026-06-01
26/00838/FUL
Full Planning Permission
Withdrawn
2026-06-10
26/00213/FUL
Full Planning Permission
Refused
2026-06-01
Full application history locked
Subscribe to see all 89 decisions →
Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Archway Building Consultancy Ltd
2. Stylish Interiors & Architecture
3. Civils Consulting Ltd
4. Livarch Ltd
At a glance
OfficerRobert Ward
BoroughNewham
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications89 (2024–26)
Approval rate81%
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 Newham planning register and published decision notices, 2024–26. · 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 — mean effective conditions attached to Newham 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 73 published Newham 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.