Synergy News & Blog: London Office
Important Planning Law Developments will be good news for many
There are very important planning law developments effecting farm / agricultural buildings, residential property developers, shop owners and state funded schools in rural areas or with agricultural land and buildings. Further changes to permitted development rights were published last week and come into force on 6th April 2014. That is things you can do to your property without requiring planning permission either automatically or using a far simpler application process called prior notification. For those, the planning authority can only refuse if specific technical objections exist such as flood or highway risk or it is a specifically undesirable or impractical location. The new Order may be read by following this link.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/564/contents/made
Unlike the current temporary relaxation to changes of use from offices to residential, which have to be completed before May 2016, these new range of freedoms are permanent. The changes, which apply only in England, are significant.
- An agricultural building or buildings up to 450sq.m may be converted to up to 3 dwellings, and the building operations reasonably necessary for the conversion.
- Up to 500sq.m of agricultural building and land around it to state funded school.
- Shop to residential use up to 150sq.m
- Shop to bank / building society
There are of course exceptions and limitations but the relaxations are more extensive than we were expecting from my earlier blog.
