After 22 amendments to The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995, we finally have a new Order which consolidates all the amendments, as well as providing for some new changes.

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 comes into force on 15 April 2015.

As well as consolidating the previous amendments, the 2015 Order has reordered the Parts, with the effect of these being reduced from 43 to 19. Just when you thought that was enough, there are also a number of new permitted development rights which are introduced.

Some of the new changes that have been brought in are (but this is by no means a comprehensive list):

• Temporary, for 3 years, permitted development right to allow up to 500sqm of storage and distribution buildings to change to residential. Additional requirements are that the building must have been in B8 use for 4 years and in use or last used as B8 on or before 19 March 2014;

• Extension, for a further 3 years, of the existing permitted development right for larger householder rear extensions (now available until 30 May 2019);

• Betting shops and pay day loan shops removed from A2 and become sui generis. Premises that have previously changed to betting shop or pay day loan shop under Class D temporary permitted development right retain their original use class and will revert to that at the end of the temporary two year period;

• Permitted development for retailers to erect click and collect facilities within curtilage of existing premises. Only one is permitted per retail premises and is limited to 4m high and gross floor space of 20sqm;

• Permitted development for the temporary filming for commercial film making inside existing buildings and outside on sites of up to 1.5 hectares. The right is limited for 9 months in any 27 month rolling period.

A point worthy of note is that the temporary permitted development rights from office to residential will still expire and the end of May 2016.  No replacement permitted development right has been legislated for, despite this being proposed in the Government’s Technical Consultation on Planning from July 2014. Perhaps once the response to this part of the Consultation has been published the 2015 Order may be subject to its first amendment.

If you wish to review the comprehensive list of changes provided by the 2015 Order, the link below will take you to the explanatory memorandum which provides a useful summary. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/597/pdfs/uksiem_20150597_en.pdf