On 17 November, the judicial review of the Government’s changes to the use classes order and new permitted development rights (PDR) was dismissed.

The High Court ruled that the changes had been legally enacted, a judgment that will likely be appealed. While unlikely to be successful, until any appeal is resolved there remains uncertainty around the ability to rely on these new permitted development rights and use classes.

In July, the Government introduced two new development rights. The first allowed the demolition of a block of flats or certain commercial buildings and rebuilding for residential use, and the second allowed the construction of one or two additional storeys above a house or commercial building.

The Government also introduced changes to use classes, by introducing an ‘umbrella’ commercial, business and service use class ‘E’, meaning that buildings in those uses would be able to change to other uses within use class E without the need for planning permission.

Rights: Community: Action is a coalition of campaigners, lawyers, planners and scientists, which are committed to tackling the climate crisis. The coalition sought to block these changes through judicial review, claiming that there ought to have been an environmental assessment, that the Government’s equality impact assessment were inadequate, and that (as promised by Government) there should have been another public consultation on the changes.

The judicial review was dismissed, however the pressure group announced that it intends to appeal the High Court’s decision on the basis that it considers that the EU’s Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive applies to these statutory instruments. On this point, the High Court found that no environmental assessment was required as the changes are not “a plan or programme setting the framework for future development consents”.