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Expansion of permitted development rights a ‘golden gift for unscrupulous developers’
A newly widened planning loophole will be “a golden gift for unscrupulous landlords and developers”, the UK’s largest planners’ body has warned.
Planner, architect and developer trade organisations have expressed dismay at a government announcement this week that permitted development rights (PDR) will be expanded.
The changes mean most unused commercial buildings, including shops, banks, restaurants, gyms and creches, can be converted into housing without a planning application.
Previously, PDRs mainly only applied to office blocks.
Ministers have said the move, which comes into force later this month, will give ailing high streets a new lease of life and deliver new homes on brownfield land.
But the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) said it “cannot fathom” why the government believed the policy “is in any way a good idea”.
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Victoria Mills, chief executive of the RTPI, said: “I fear that these new regulations will be a golden gift for unscrupulous landlords and developers who will be falling over themselves to make a quick buck on residential conversions.
“It will do nothing for our high streets if all ground floor commercial units are turned into homes.”
The RTPI also suggested the announcement had been “sneaked out” since parliament currently in recess.
Hugh Ellis, director of policy at the Town and Country Planning Association, said the policy “risks being a disaster for our high streets, for local democracy and for the future of decent housing”.
“We know there is a need for more homes and to revitalise town centres and high streets. But this is absolutely not the way to achieve it,” he added.
He accused ministers of ignoring government-commissioned evidence which found that PDR has led to poor quality housing.
Alan Jones, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said: “I’m seriously worried about the government’s ongoing obsession with extending permitted development rights.
“These new freedoms are dangerously relaxed and lack critical safeguards to prevent further damage to suffering high streets by turning essential community amenities into, all too often, substandard homes.
“We urgently need well-designed, mixed-use developments that provide long-term value for their communities and residents, delivered by sufficiently resourced local authorities – not a race to the bottom.”
Ian Fletcher, director of policy (real estate) at the British Property Federation, said communities “will be perturbed to discover that just about any shop, restaurant, nursery or other community facility now comes with an automatic right to convert to residential”.
He added: “New residential development can play a vital role in town centre recovery post-COVID but poorly planned PDR homes will do more harm than good.”
