Permitted ‘development’ – Righting a wrong here in Haringey
Haringey Council is set to remove permitted development rights for office-to-residential conversions in the borough’s Growth Areas, as well as its Metropolitan and District Centres, subject to approval next week.
Under permitted development rights, property developers can get their schemes to convert office space into residential units approved via a narrow ‘Prior Approval’ route, rather than the fuller and more usual planning application/permission process.
The Council could previously only refuse such applications via the ‘Prior Approval’ route on these four, limited grounds:
• Contaminated land
• Flood risk
• Noise from adjacent commercial uses
• Transport impacts
Should the direction be approved next week by Cllr Matt White, Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Corporate Services, an Article 4 Direction will come into effect from Saturday 26 June 2021.
The office to residential permitted development right has led to significant negative impacts through the loss of employment floorspace to the detriment of the office market.
It has also led to the delivery of many cramped and low-quality housing schemes with no affordable housing as the opportunity to secure affordable homes is lost on these sites.
Without intervention to restrict these Prior Approvals from office to residential these negative impacts are likely to continue.
This is why the Cabinet agreed to the making of a non-immediate Article 4 Direction on 10 March 2020.
This direction was made on 16 April 2020 and specified that it would come into force, subject to confirmation by the council, in June 2021. It has been necessary for the council to give a year’s grace before confirming the Article 4 Direction, otherwise it could have been liable to paying developers compensation.
This Direction shall mean property developers will require planning permission to ensure such changes of use from office space to residential units in the future.
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