Office To Residential - The New Permitted Development Rights

The timetable

The Government finally announced on 24 January that regulations will be introduced in the spring of 2013 to amend Permitted development rights to allow a change from office to residential use without the need for planning permission.

"Finally" because the policy was first announced in the Chancellor's budget in March 2011. It was consulted upon in April 2011. In July 2012 the Government announced that it would not be implementing the measure. In a statement in September 2012 Eric Pickles announced his intention to revive the policy.

Local planning authorities have been given until 22 February to seek exemption where this can be justified on economic grounds. The draft regulations will be brought forward once local planning authority requests for exemptions have been considered, presumably coming into force in April?

The changes

For a limited period of 3 years a new PD right will allow the change of use from class B1(a) offices to class C3 residential without the need for planning permission. There will be a "tightly drawn" prior approval process which will cover significant impacts on transport and highways, development in areas of high flood risk, land contamination and safety hazard zones.

Other changes proposed are the extension of PD rights to allow agricultural buildings to be used for other non residential purposes. The size threshold applicable to the existing permitted change of use from B1 to B8 and from B2 to B1 & B8 is to be increased and for a temporary 2 year period, conversion will be permitted for some town centre uses.

The office to residential exemption

Eric Pickles has said that exemptions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances where there are "unique local circumstances which should be taken into account" and it can be demonstrated that "the new rights will lead to a loss of a nationally significant area of economic activity or substantial adverse economic consequences at the local authority level that are not off set by the positive benefits that the new rights would bring". Exemptions will be limited to the geographical area justifiable in the light of the criteria.

The City of London Corporation believing that 20% of the office floor space in the Square Mile would be in immediate danger of conversion to flats, is the first to seek such an exemption because of its "concern about the impact of the proposed change to planning rules on our role as a world business centre." The Royal Borough of...