It has been some seven years since the release of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2010. It was the first in a raft of amendments to the faithful General Permitted Development Order (1995) that became part of the government's ‘new way’ of planning.

The use of the Permitted Development Orders has become the standard mechanism for the Government to release development land from the grip of the Local Planning Authorities and have become the bane of any Local Authority seeking to preserve employment or retail uses within their areas.

The last seven years have seen many ‘interpretations’ of the same document so in this article I shall go through some of the pitfalls that have arisen and how budding property developers can overcome them.

Knowing the starting use
The biggest pitfall by far is knowing what the authorised starting use is because this can have a massive effect on what permitted development rights are available to you.

To give an example:
Class B1(a) Office and Class A2 Financial and Professional Service

The permitted development allowances for Office (B1a) to residential development is set out within Class O of the 2015 GPDO. The permitted development allowances for Financial and Professional Services (A2) are set out within Classes G and M of the 2015 (GPDO). They are vastly different in terms of their scope. Hence knowing the starting use is vital to knowing what options you have.