Development Intent
AtlasWestminsterOfficersFergus Wong
Case officer · Westminster Planning

Fergus Wong.

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

A case officer at Westminster with an approval rate of 88% across 97 decided planning applications, spanning 12 wards.[1] Decision speed and appeal performance publish when decision notices are ingested.

Planning officer97 decisions88% approvalSave
Westminster · 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 →
97
Applications
2020–21
Approval rate over time — tougher or softer 🔒Dashed line = London average
avg 81%86%202091%2021
Approval-rate trend is subscriber dataSubscribe to see the trend →
What they decide — by application type
How they compareVersus peers
Approval rate88% · 43rd of 76
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 reports68 officer reports parsed
39%
Approves despite concerns
of approvals record a documented reservation
28%
Negotiated approvals
approvals mentioning revisions/amendments
3%
"On balance" reports
reports using explicit balancing language
84%
Bespoke reasoning
of report text written for the case, not recited
What they write about — vs Westminster's average officer

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

Trees & landscape
1.4× borough avg
Bulk & massing
1.39× borough avg
Privacy & overlooking
1.31× borough avg
Outlook & amenity
1.3× borough avg
Materials & detailing
1.01× borough avg

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

How they reason — coded from their reports

Wong is precise about the Sui Generis/C3 distinction for canal moorings, testing whether a proposed change of use (residential to short-term let) breaches a specific named policy (DES13) even where the formal use class doesn't change on paper. On basement/extension applications he cross-references OTHER pending applications for the same property explicitly by reference to avoid inconsistent or duplicative assessment, and records negotiated design changes (a flat roof changed to sloped, sliding doors reduced in size) made specifically to avoid the need for re-consultation.

Observable habits

· tests a use change against a specific named policy (DES13 for canal moorings) even where the formal use class does not change on paper, focusing on the functional character of the change

· cross-references OTHER pending applications for the same property explicitly by reference to avoid inconsistent or duplicative assessment

· records negotiated design changes (a flat roof changed to sloped, doors reduced in size) made specifically to avoid the need for re-consultation with neighbours

What their reports consistently look for

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether a use change breaches a specific named policy's functional test, even where the formal use class doesn't change on paper

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: other pending applications for the same property, cross-referenced explicitly to avoid inconsistent assessment

· what this officer's reports consistently look for: whether a negotiated design change was significant enough to require re-consultation, or minor enough not to

Assigned Fergus Wong 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 change of use of the mooring from long-term residential to a commercial mooring, to offer short-term letting accommodation, does not comply with policy DES 13

20/00027/FULL

There are two other planning applications relating to this property that are currently pending consideration at the time of this decision

20/00496/FULL

Measured from 68 published Westminster 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 68 parsed reports. Whether refusals citing each survive appeal isn't traced per policy yet.

DES 5
15 times cited
S29
13 times cited
ENV 13
13 times cited
S28
12 times cited
H3
9 times cited
DES 9
8 times cited
ENV 6
5 times cited
ENV 7
5 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
21/02261/FULL
Full Planning Permission Application
Refused
2021-09-14
20/03459/FULL
Full Planning Permission Application
Withdrawn
2021-08-10
21/02261/FULL
Full Planning Permission Application
Refused
2021-09-14
20/03459/FULL
Full Planning Permission Application
Withdrawn
2021-08-10
Full application history locked
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Consultants approved most— subscriber data
1. Stiff + Trevillion
2. Locksley Architects
3. Savills
4. UPP - Urban Planning Practice
At a glance
OfficerFergus Wong
RolePlanning officer
Experience
Applications97 (2020–21)
Approval rate88%
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 Westminster 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 Westminster 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 68 published Westminster 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.