Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods (Labour) on Friday, 5 December 2014, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 December 2014. It was answered by Brandon Lewis (Conservative) on Monday, 15 December 2014 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Change of Use

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount of office space, in square metres, converted to residential property since the introduction of the B1(a) to C3 permitted development right in section J.1 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2013.

Answer

The permitted development rights to allow the change of offices to residential use were introduced in May 2013. These rights are contributing to a more efficient use of our existing building stock, and are providing badly needed new homes such as studios and one-bedroom flats for young people. This is especially true in London where there is a particularly acute need for more housing. In turn, bringing new residents to the local area also brings business and helps generate growth.

This market-led approach reflects that business patterns are changing with new technology: as a whole, while there is increasing demand for new housing due to a growing population, modern firms need less physical office space than they used to.

The information requested in the hon. Member’s questions is not centrally held, as the rights are overseen by local authorities. But I would observe that research published by Knight Frank in May 2014 has shown that nationally, prior approval applications have been secured for over 3.2 million square feet of new housing. Moreover, an analysis by Planning magazine last month, surveying London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield, estimated that a total of 17,425 new homes have been given permission across those specific cities.

I appreciate that the Labour Party have opposed these reforms – yet HM Opposition have failed to say exactly where they think new homes should be provided instead if they oppose such brownfield regeneration.

We are considering the responses to the Technical consultation on planning which included a proposal on the change of use from offices to residential; any subsequent legislative changes will be brought forward in this Parliament. We will also publish the Government response to the consultation and an Impact Assessment in due course.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
217516
Session
2014-15
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Business premises Housing Change of use Permitted development rights
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk