Monday 22 July 2013

Permitted Development Rights

As many farmers may be aware, from 30th May this year the government introduced new “permitted development rights” for the change of use of agricultural buildings to a range of commercial uses.

“Permitted development‟ is development which benefits from a “blanket” planning permission granted by parliament through the Town and Country Planning legislation. As a result certain changes in use of agricultural buildings will no longer require planning consent to be granted by the Local Planning Authority (LPA).

The new permitted development rights allows an existing agricultural building, and any land within its curtilage, to change use to a “flexible” use falling within a variety of commercial uses including, shops, restaurants and cafes, offices, light industrial, storage and distribution, hotels, guest houses and leisure facilities such as a gym. As one can see this covers a broad range of uses and opens up significant opportunities for farmers.

As one can imagine however, there are conditions and limitations imposed on these rights. The most significant restrictions are that the cumulative area on which the change of use takes place must not exceed 500 square metres on the “original agricultural unit”, the building involved is not listed and must have been in solely agricultural use since 3rd July 2012 or for buildings brought in to agricultural use after that date they must have been in agricultural use at some stage during the previous 10 years.

After a building (or site) has changed use its “planning status” will be that of sui generis. This means that the building (or site) will not benefit from any other permitted development rights. This is significant because at the same time as these rules were introduced, a similar permitted development right was introduced which allowed the change of use from office to residential use. Accordingly this prevents one using a series of permitted development rights to convert an agricultural building in to a house for example.

There is a requirement to notify the LPA of any changes of use and the detail which is required depends upon the scale of the change, being simpler for changes of up to 150 square meters and more complicated for changes between 150 and 500 square metres. However in either instance making the notification is a far simpler and cheaper process than would otherwise be the case if a full planning application was required.

The LPA then has 56 days to either come back for more information on issues such as transport, noise, contamination or flooding and if the LPA has not made a decision within 56 days the change of use can proceed. If a prior approval application is refused, the applicant has two options - either to appeal the prior approval refusal to the Planning Inspectorate or to submit a full planning application.

This is of course only a summary of the rules and if anyone is contemplating exploiting these new rules they are well advised to take professional advice. However, what is clear is that these rules do represent a great opportunity for some farmers to diversify their business without the hassle, cost and delay of gaining planning consent for what in many instances is an entirely sensible and non controversial alternative use.



James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells

T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

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