The Government reiterates its intention to make further changes to Part 3 Class O of the GPDO …

The Government has recently issued the following document, which reiterates its intention to make further changes to Part 3 Class O of the GPDO (i.e. office-to-residential conversions):

  • November 2016: Government Response to the Report of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Built Environment (pdf) (link).

Notes:

  • The above document is not summarised on the Planning Jungle website, other than the following section in relation to Part 3 Class O of the GPDO.

Further changes to Part 3 Class O of the GPDO:

  • The "Technical consultation on planning", which ran for 8 weeks from 31/07/2014 until 26/09/2014, didn't refer to demolition (or similar) in relation to Part 3 Class O of the GPDO (note: for further info, please view this post).
  • However, a subsequent government press release (link) in October 2015 proposed to allow the "demolition of offices and new build as residential use" (note: for further info, please view this post).
  • The "government response" to the above 2014 consultation, which was published in May 2016, stated the following (note: for further info, please view this post):
    - "The Government announced that the right will also allow for the demolition of offices and replacement as residential use on a like-for-like basis. This element will be brought forward to a separate timetable.".
  • The above "Government Response to the Report of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Built Environment" document, which was published in November 2016, states the following:
    - "198. We have also announced our plan for a radical increase in brownfield development, building high quality housing for families in town centres, breathing new life into our high streets, turning abandoned shopping centres into new communities and increasing density of housing around transport hubs to build homes that people want to live in. We are to extent permitted development rights even further, to allow for demolition of offices and replacement with housing on a like-for-like basis. This could provide around 4,000 new homes by the end of 2021. We will consider other opportunities to revitalise currently underused land.".