To further support housing supply, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, the ‘GPDO’, has been amended to make changes to the permitted development rights that permits the change of use of commercial, business and service uses within use class E to dwellinghouses. The changes remove the limit on the cumulative floor space of the existing building, enabling commercial buildings of any size to be converted into new homes.
Permitted development rights are subject to conditions and limitations to control impacts and to protect local amenity, and an application to the Council for prior approval will still need to be made. The changes to the GPDO also removes the requirement that the building must be vacant for a continuous period of at least 3 months immediately prior to the date of an application for prior approval.
These changes will come into effect 5th March 2024. The government’s intention is that shops, offices and other buildings can be quickly repurposed, resulting in thousands of new homes by 2030.
A link to the legislation can be found here, and a link to the “Explanatory Memorandum” here .
