Open Air Business February 2017

INDUSTRY TALK
GETTY IMAGES
consultant to understand whether
planning permission will be
required, or if your development
falls within your permitted
development rights.
PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT
RIGHTS
In the 2013 Budget Statement,
the Government realised that the
Use Classes Order 1987 2 and the
General Permitted Development
Order 1995 3 were significant
deregulatory tools that could
be expanded to allow greater
flexibility to the change between
land uses that have similar
impacts, without the need to
apply for planning permission.
Since this time, there have been
a raft of changes to permitted
development rights which allow
further flexibility between use
classes to support change of use
from agricultural to certain other
uses such as business, retail and
residential. These changes are
now in place, and are outlined
within the consolidated Town
and Country Planning (General
Permitted Development) (England)
Order 2015 (GPDO) (as amended).
These changes have gone through
a period of testing through various
prior approvals and appeals, so
there is now more certainty to
what is required and, therefore,
2017 is the right time to try and
make the most of your new
business venture.
The reason why it is important
to distinguish whether your
development falls within your
permitted development rights is
down to time and money. Utilising
your permitted development
rights should involve less work
and time so that you can start your
new venture without delay. This is
because permitted development
rights are essentially a national
grant of planning permission,
which allow certain building
works and changes of use to be
carried out without having to
make a planning application.
But, be aware that any permitted
development rights are subject
to conditions and limitations
to control the impact of your
development on the surrounding
area and to protect local amenity.
Schedule 2 of the GPDO 2015
contains 19 parts relating to
the different types of permitted
development rights, but ‘Part
3: Changes of Use’ and ‘Part 4:
Temporary Buildings and Uses’ will
be of most relevance to your new
venture.
CHANGE OF USE OF
EXISTING BUILDINGS
It may be beneficial to change
existing agricultural buildings to
support your open-air business i.e.
function rooms for weddings.
Class R of Part 4 of the 2015
GPDO permits agricultural
buildings and land in their
curtilage to be converted to
a “flexible commercial use”
subject to a number of conditions
and restrictions. A flexible use
includes shops, financial and
professional services, restaurants
and cafes, business use, storage
or distribution, hotels or assembly
and leisure. In this respect, a
function room could fall under
2
The Town and
Country Planning
(Use Classes) Order
1987 (as amended)
3
The Town and
Country Planning
(General Permitted
Development) Order
1995 (as amended)
the ‘assembly and leisure’ use
permitted subject to adhering
to the necessary condition and
restrictions.
Class R is only applicable to
buildings that have been solely in
agricultural use on 3 July, 2012,
or if it was not in use on that date
when it was last in use if now
redundant. If the building was
brought into agricultural use after
3 July, 2012, then you will not be
able to convert the building into a
use defined in Class R for at least
10 years.
The rights under Class R do
not extend to buildings that are
listed or a scheduled monument;
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