The impact of permitted development rights for offices. Learn what permitted development rights are and what the proposals are for their future. Whilst we saw some high quality conversions of office buildings to residential use during our detailed case study research, we also saw many other examples of very poor quality housing. Permitted Development of Office Buildings and Noise We have mentioned previously about recent relaxations to planning laws providing permitted development rights in certain circumstances. It was particularly focused on the issue of office developments that had outlived their useful economic life. The way this is currently governed as 'permitted development' in England is, however, highly problematic. Permitted development rights to change from an office use (Use Class B1(a)) to a residential use (Use Class C3) are subject to a number of limitations and conditions. Data blog: What latest planning statistics reveal about office-to-residential activity. This research, conducted by a research team led by Ben Clifford from University College London, assesses the impacts of extending permitted development rights for office to residential conversions in England. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. This has allowed developers to convert commercial buildings such as office blocks to residential property. On 12 October 2015, the government announced that the office to residential permitted development right in Class O of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (SI 2015/596) will become permanent. Obsessed with numbers and deregulation, its mistake was to incentivise this change of use through permitted development rights (PDR) – effectively giving developers a free pass to create new homes of any type and any quality in any location, as long as the building they used began life as an office. Temporary Permitted Development rules to be made permanent; Brandon Lewis, the minister for Planning and housing has announced that the temporary permitted development (PD) rights, allowing conversion from office to residential, without planning consent will be made permanent and will not therefore lapse at the end of May 2016 as originally planned. The temporary rights were originally designed in May 2013 and although deemed controversial, they have resulted in almost 4,000 conversions being given the go-ahead between April 2014 and June 2015 alone. The changes to permitted development (PD) rights to allow for a change of use and redevelopment of commercial premises to residential use have been a useful, if slightly controversial, means of securing a supply of new homes, whilst also providing for the rejuvenation of parts of our towns and cities in England and Wales. The Government recently announced proposed changes to the office-to-residential permitted development rights. Impact of extending development rights to office-to-residential change. Our prediction was that this would result in a number of developments taking … The policy to allow permitted development rights for the change of use of office buildings to residential was first introduced in the context of an economy struggling to recover and the government's desire to stimulate development rapidly. Office to residential: councils' track records, most overturned grounds for refusal, and more... Our analysis tells you which councils approve the highest proportion of permitted development applications to convert offices to housing, which grounds for refusal are hardest to overturn at appeal, and much more. London facts and statistics; A to Z of London government; 2019 General Election. With an announcement on an extension of office-to-residential permitted development rights expected soon, what do latest official planning statistics reveal about the take-up of the controversial eased rules?