When an application for prior approval or permitted development is submitted, developers face competition for officer attention on their applications with larger and more complex applications.

Officers often do not look at PD applications until at least 5-6 weeks’ in due to staffing and workloads. Therefore, it is important to prepare the case for prior approval thoroughly. Particular care should be taken in clarifying whether the site is subject to an Article 4 Direction, as sometimes there can be a lack of clarity at the local level about this.

Many SME developers leave such vital checks until too late in the process, often rushing to snap up a potential opportunity, hurrying into legals, only to find out later that they have acquired a commercial building that cannot be converted into flats because of an Article 4 Direction that they should have been aware of from the start.

The PD Opportunity
We recently advised on a 4-storey office building which forms one half of a semi-detached block. It is located in a Strategic Employment Area. This is a Local Plan designation that seeks to prevent the loss of employment floor space in the area but does not on its own withdraw or limit permitted development rights unless the Council also makes an Article 4 Direction.

The building comprised about 4,500 sq ft of office floor space with ample car parking in a reasonably central location to the local town centre. Neighbouring buildings on the same estate had already been converted to residential use and it was proposed to convert the offices in this building to 6 x 1-bedroom studio flats and a 2-bedroom 3-person apartment.

Risks presented by Business Park sites
When looking at buildings on existing business parks for change of use from commercial to residential use, great care needs to be taken for a number of reasons.