New General Permitted Order

On 15 April 2015 The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 ("the GPDO") will come into force which will amend the law relating to permitted development rights.

Planning permission is required before any development can lawfully be carried out on land. Development is defined in planning law as "building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under the land or the making of a material change in the use of any buildings or other land." This definition is extremely wide and covers nearly all types of development and therefore permitted development rights are important as they allow certain classes of development or changes of use to go ahead without the need for an express planning application to be made.

The GPDO will introduce the following new permitted development rights:

• The conversion of a building used as a shop, or for financial and professional services, or as a betting office, pay day loan shop or casino to restaurants or cafes;
• A change of use from a shop or betting office to premises providing financial and professional services;
• The conversion of retail premises, premises used for financial and professional services, or betting offices or payday loan shops to assembly and leisure;
• The conversion of casinos or amusement arcades to dwellinghouses;
• The conversion of premises used as storage and distribution to dwellinghouses;
• The temporary use of a building or land for commercial film-making;
• The provision of click and collect facilities within the curtilage of a shop;
• The increase of the size of loading bays for shops by no more than 20%;
• The extension of buildings used for waste facilities; and
• The installation of solar PV panels, with a generating capacity of up to 1 megawatt, on roofs of non-domestic buildings.

If you are considering carrying out any development which falls within one of the permitted development rights above then it is important to obtain legal advice before carrying out the development as each permitted development right has limitations which may mean that an express planning application is required. Each permitted development right also contains conditions which must be adhered to otherwise the property will not have deemed planning consent and enforcement action could be taken by the local authority. For example, some permitted development rights require the prior approval of the local planning authority before development or the change of use is commenced.

In addition to the introduction of new permitted development rights, the following changes have been made:

• The permitted development right for larger home extensions has been extended until May 2019; and
• Permitted development rights for extensions to non-domestic premises, (which include offices, shops, industrial buildings and schools) are now permanent and not time-limited.

This article is for general guidance only. It provides useful information in a concise form. Action should not be taken without obtaining specific legal advice.