Rural communities will be given more options to convert
agricultural buildings into family homes to better meet local
housing needs through planning rule changes, announced Housing
Minister .
Changes to permitted development rights will mean up to 5 new
homes can be created from existing agricultural buildings on a
farm rather than the maximum of 3 currently permitted.
Currently several hundred new homes each year are created through
conversions of agricultural buildings, and these changes are
expected to boost these numbers further.
The changes will help communities make the best use of existing
buildings to help meet local housing needs more efficiently,
while at the same time ensuring they remain in keeping with the
character of the area and safeguard people’s privacy.
Government is also giving applicants an extra year to convert
further storage and distribution buildings into new homes that
will help relieve local housing pressures.
Housing Minister said:
We need to be more creative if we are to meet the housing needs
of rural communities.
That’s why I’m changing planning rules so rural communities
have more flexibility on how best to use existing buildings to
deliver more much needed homes for families.
This is part of our comprehensive reform programme to build the
homes Britain needs.
The new measures will also help farmers adopt the latest
innovations in modern farming practices by increasing the size
limit of new agricultural buildings on larger farms from 465
square metres to 1,000 square metres.
Permitted development rights are 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.
The rights are subject to conditions and limitations to control
impact and to protect local amenity.
The amended development right for the change of use of
agricultural buildings to provide up to 5 new homes will allow
for:
- up to 3 larger homes within a maximum of 465 square metres or
- up to 5 smaller homes each no larger than 100 square metres
or
- a mix of both, within a total of no more than 5 homes, of
which no more than 3 may be larger homes
To further support housing delivery, applicants will have a
further year in which to benefit from the temporary permitted
development right for the change of use of buildings used for
storage and distribution to residential use. The right will be
extended by a year until 10 June 2019.
The regulations to come into force on 6 April support the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s focus on
making the most effective use of land or buildings in
the draft revisions to the
National Planning Policy Framework, announced earlier this
week.
