An independent report commissioned has been published by the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government into the
quality standard of homes delivered through change of use
permitted development rights.
It concludes that permitted development
conversions – which sees homes built without planning permission
- often create worse quality residential environments than
planning permission conversions in relation to several factors
widely linked to the health, wellbeing and quality of life of
future occupiers.
It highlights how these conversions
mostly avoid making any contribution to local areas, which is a
requirement of the local planning system, fail to meet adequate
design standards and create worse living
environments.
The LGA is urging the Government to act
on these independent findings – produced by UCL and the
University of Liverpool - and remove permitted development
rights.
It comes as more than 30 organisations –
including the Royal Town Planning Institute, Chartered Institute
of Housing and Civic Voice – have signed an LGA open letter
warning the Government against removing further planning powers
from communities.
Cllr David Renard, LGA housing and
planning spokesman, said:
“This independent report rightly backs
our long-standing concerns over the detrimental impact on local
communities of rules allowing home conversions without planning
permission. It provides further evidence on why it is more vital
than ever that planning should remain
local.
“Under these rules, communities have no
way to ensure developers build high-quality affordable homes in
the right places, provide any affordable homes as part of the
development, along with infrastructure that provides enough
schools, promotes greener and more active travel, and tackles
climate change.
“Developers must no longer be allowed to
bypass the planning system and local communities must be able to
have a say on all new developments in their
area.
“It is vital that councils
and local communities have a voice in the planning process and
are able to oversee all local developments
so councils can deliver
resilient, prosperous places that meet the needs of their
communities.”
NOTES TO
EDITORS
The full report – Research into the
quality standard of homes delivered through change of use
permitted development rights – can be read here.
