Permitted development agricultural to residential
Agricultural buildings – potential conversion to residential permitted development right

England: Well it must be that time of year again. The Government have published a new amendment to the General Permitted Development Order introducing a number of new permitted development rights for change of use coming into effect 06 April 2014 including:

1) Use Class A1 and A2 to residential use,

2) Use Class A1 to a bank or similar,

3) Various uses to a nursery,

4) Agricultural buildings to schools or nurseries,

5) Agricultural to residential.

Some rights on this list have new prior notification procedures attached including the first and last. In the case of change from A1 and A2 to residential Council’s must make an assessment of the impact of the loss and the realistic prospect of future occupation by another A1 or A2 user.

In the case of agricultural conversions there is the ability for the Council to decide “whether the location or siting of the building makes it otherwise impractical or undesirable for the building to change”. This is clearly very ambiguous so we will have to see how they interpret this one. The agricultural to residential change includes some limited rights to undertake necessary operational development to facilitate the change of use.

Numerous conditions apply to all these changes so it is definitely worth seeking advice before if you are thinking of taking advantage of the new rights. Contact us and Pure Town Planning should be able to assist.

Have you seen our latest local authority guide? A useful summary about developing in Southampton City Council area.

UPDATE: In the Budget today the Chancellor announced consultation on yet more permitted development changes including even more non-residential use to residential use changes. Warehouses are the next potential target…