Change of use approval clause added to Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Rights currently exist under section 60(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the Secretary of State to require the approval of the local planning authority with respect to certain permitted development right matters, allowing potential impacts from the development to be managed. 

The new clause 4 in the Bill (50-page / 248KB PDF) will similarly allow the Secretary of State to provide that both he and local authorities can ensure that where permitted development is granted for a change of use, the impacts from the development can be "managed sensitively", planning minister Nick Boles told Parliament during a Committee Debate on the Bill.

"That could include ensuring that adequate measures are in place to manage the impact of any additional traffic generation or noise created by the change of use," Boles said. "It could also put protections in place, which could ensure that proper account is taken to manage risks, such as where the change of use is in an area where there are flood risks, whether contamination remedial works have previously been undertaken, or whether the development is near a safety hazard zone."

Boles said he was keen to free up the planning system from "unnecessary constraints" to ensure that local planning authorities can focus on the "most important planning matters in their areas".

"I want to ensure that economic growth is not suffocated by unnecessary constraints on development that is change of use," he said. 

The Government announced in September, as part of its major planning and housing reform, that it would introduce permitted development rights to enable change of use from commercial to residential purpose.