The new s100ZA of the Town and County Planning Act 1990 was brought into force on 1st October. From now on, planning conditions which must be complied with prior to the commencement of development can only be imposed where the applicant has agreed to such conditions in writing. This requirement does not apply where an applicant has been notified of the intention to impose a pre-commencement condition and has not responded by the date set out in the notice. These new rules arose out of the Government's concerns that the imposition of pre-commencement conditions on development, when it is not justified, unnecessarily delays the delivery of development and drives up costs.
Government Proposes New Permitted Development Rights
The Government has issued a consultation on "a package of measures to make best use of land and speed up the delivery of new homes", including new permitted development rights. They are proposing new permitted development rights to allow existing premises in typical high street uses (such as A1 and A2) to change to office use (B1), and for hot food takeaways (A5) to change to residential use (C3). They are also proposing rights to extend certain existing buildings upwards to provide new homes. Also, they wish to explore the feasibility of a new right to allow for the demolition of existing commercial buildings and their redevelopment as residential. The Government is also proposing to make the existing rights for change of use from storage or distribution to residential use, and for larger single storey extensions to houses, permanent. The consultation will run until 14 January 2019.
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