A campaign spearheaded by the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Country Landowners’ Association has persuaded the Government to ease newly introduced planning regulations to allow agricultural buildings to be converted for residential use.
Amended in May last year — under Class M of the General Permitted Development Order 1995 (GPDO) — the existing regulations, with certain conditions, automatically allow a farm building to be used for alternative businesses such as shops, offices, hotels and storage. Now, after lobbying by a number of rural bodies, ministers have agreed to include residential conversions in the change of use list.
Any agricultural building up to 450sq metres may be eligible for conversion into a maximum of three residential dwellings. A Government spokesman added, however, that farmers would not be allowed to “demolish cow sheds or outbuildings”, only to convert or renovate them and that these “permitted development” changes would not be granted in national parks, conservation areas or areas of outstanding natural beauty.
There are, explains Ian Harman (pictured) a director at commercial property agents Prop-Search, certain conditions. “Any building must have been used solely for agricultural business purposes since 3 July, 2012, to be able to benefit from the new provisions.
“For agricultural buildings first brought into use after that date, the new rights are not available until the building has been used for agriculture for at least 10 years,” he says. “There are also restrictions to ensure that the rights are not available where the floor space of the building exceeds 500sq metres.” Listed buildings and scheduled monuments are also excluded.
Any change, where the floor area of the building or buildings within the original agricultural unit exceeds 150sq metres, must have prior approval from the local planning authority.
“Up until now, the legislation has operated on the premise that the prior approval process is simply an opportunity for the council to control siting, design and external appearance,” adds Harman, “It is not an opportunity for the council to refuse consent for the construction of the building.”
Under Class M rights, prior approval only gives council planners the chance to consider whether an application has any transport, highways and noise impact, or may cause contamination and flooding problems. An authority can only block approval if it considers any of these risks excessive.
“Some councils are asking for financial contributions for permitted schemes under a Section 106 Agreement to mitigate traffic impacts,” says Harman. “This provision allows the council to ask the landowner to set out his assessment of the impacts and how they are to be mitigated.”
There is, he adds, uncertainty about the lawfulness of a Section 106 Agreement where it is not directly related to the development. This may see landowners appealing any refusals of prior planning approval where the council has previously requested a Section 106 Agreement — with any subsequent appeal decisions acting as important precedents.
“Given the demand for homes in rural areas and the prospects of achieving a rental income, the proposed changes to permit conversion to dwellings, together with the changes to commercial uses introduced last year, could represent a significant opportunity for land owners and developers,” concludes Harman.
Previous Post
Furniture and Flooring boost Easter Retail Sales
No related posts found for this post.
