New Permitted Developments Rights – August 2020, by Ellen Nicholson
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic the Government has introduced a number of new measures to encourage development and speed up the planning process.
Among the latest amendments to The Town and County Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020 are changes to two storey extensions to detached purpose-built blocks of flats. These changes came into force on 1st August 2020.
The new permitted development rights include any reasonable engineering operations, access and egress (including external fire-safety routes), and storage and waste facilities.
There are however a number of conditions placed on the application of these rights. For instance, they only apply to properties between 1 July 1948 and 5 March 2018. In addition, the following height restrictions apply:
- The additional storeys cannot exceed three metres in height, or the height of any existing storey, whichever is the lesser;
- The overall height of the roof of building (as extended) must not exceed seven metres above the highest part of the existing roof; and
- The extended building cannot exceed 30 metres in height.
The existing buildings must not be located, or form part of:
- Article 2(3) Land (i.e. protected land such as Conservation Areas, listed buildings, National Parks)
- A site of Special Scientific Interest;
- A listed building or land within its curtilage;
- A scheduled monument or land within its curtilage;
- A safety hazard area;
- A military explosives storage area; or
- Land within 3 kilometres of the perimeter of an aerodrome.
It is also of importance to note that if planning permission for residential use of the existing building was obtained through another Permitted Development (PD) Right, then this new PD Right is not available. This means that office blocks or retail units which have been converted to flats under the GPDOcannot be extended upwards under this new legislation.
Applicants are required to obtain prior approval from the Local Planning Authority, proving details in relation to:
- transport and highways;
- impact on air traffic and defence assets;
- contamination;
- flood risk;
- design and external appearance;
- natural light in all habitable rooms;
- impact upon amenity space of the existing and neighbouring buildings ;
- overlooking/privacy/loss of light; and
- impact on any protected views.
Another amendment will grant permanent Permitted Development Rights to allow existing dwellinghouses to be extended by up to 2 storeys. Again, the legislation applies only to dwellings built between 1 July 1948 and 28 October 2018 and specifically allows for:
- Extensions of up to two storeys (7 metres) on existing houses of two or more storeys to a maximum height of 18 metres;
- One storey extensions (3.5 meters) to a single storey house; and
- The roof height of semi-detached or terraced properties must not be increased by more than 3.5 meters.
If the dwelling has already been extended upwards by one or two storeys in permission granted by this class or full planning permission, these PD rights do not apply.
In order to qualify the existing buildings must not be located, or form part of:
- Article 2(3) Land (i.e. protected land such as Conservation Areas, listed buildings, National Parks)
- A site of Special Scientific Interest;
- A listed building or land within its curtilage;
- A scheduled monument or land within its curtilage;
- A safety hazard area;
- A military explosives storage area; or
- Land within three kilometres of the perimeter of an aerodrome
The development is subject to the following conditions:
- External materials must be of similar appearance to the existing dwelling;
- No windows in any wall or roof slope forming a side elevation;
- The roof pitch of the principle part of the dwelling following the development must be the same pitch of the existing dwelling; and
- Following the development, the dwellinghouse may only be used as a dwellinghouse (Use class C3) and for no other purpose.
Applicants are required to obtain prior approval from the Local Planning Authority, proving details in relation to:
- Amenity impacts on neighbouring properties;
- Design and external appearance;
- Any impact a taller building may have on air traffic and defence assets; and
- Any impact on protected views.
This new legislation is due to come into force from 31 August 2020.
It will be interesting to see the impact of these new PD rights on development coming forward. The use of Permitted Development Rights to construct residential accommodation has been criticised, particularly due to the schemes that have delivered poor quality accommodation through office to residential conversions.
Given the relatively limited circumstances in which the new PD Rights can be used, it seems unlikely that they will be attractive to major developers looking to deliver large numbers of new homes. In practice they may assist individual homeowners and smaller scale developers looking to expand individual properties.
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