“The new measures announced by Michael Gove for extension to permitted development rights appear to regurgitate the existing planning flexibilities and are likely to be a drop in the ocean when it comes to delivering high-quality and sustainable new homes, especially for families. The most needed housing tenure is three and four bedroom homes with access to facilities, and it is unclear whether these new reforms will help to alleviate the pressure on this sector of the housing market.
As part of the new plans announced on 24th July, Michael Gove said new flexibilities will be introduced to allow shops, takeaways and betting shops to be turned into living spaces. These are welcomed, particularly given the rise in online shopping and how this has impacted consumer habits. Too many of Britain’s high streets have vacant buildings, negatively impacting the character of local areas; however these reforms need careful management to prevent job losses, or the lack of commercial floor space which will negatively impact the tenant mix in inner city locations and decrease services available to local communities.
Another part of Gove’s proposals was to relax the rules around the use of retail spaces, in an attempt to rejuvenate high streets and allow for more densely packed housing in inner cities, partly to protect against urban sprawl. Certainly the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is seeing significant pressure to solve the housing crisis, however this type of development will provide flats and maisonettes, unlikely to be of help for families or those looking to downsize. This type of development will likely increase the number of student and short-term accommodation (self-catering and holiday let etc), which whilst needed in cities like Cambridge, Oxford and London, is less of a requirement in other areas and also a housing tenure that is outweighed by the need for high-quality and sustainable family homes.
In addition, the housing secretary plans to draw up new rules for greater freedoms for loft conversion and extensions to existing properties, and while these sound promising, it is imperative that the government expands on this and consults with key stakeholders. These greater freedoms must not negatively impact the historic environment and local character of areas and we need clarity on how these new opportunities will differ from the already existing permitted development rights for extension and alteration of houses. It also should be considered that extending and significantly altering homes to create more floorspace will reduce the number of smaller homes which are attractive and affordable to first-time buyers and downsizers – an area of the housing market that is already disproportionately low. Furthermore, the cost of building materials and labour have seen an astronomical increase over the last 36 months, which for most families means they cannot afford to extend their home. It is well known that families are often forced into moving outside of cities and towns and into typically less sustainable locations, to obtain more floorspace.
As always with these announcements, the devil will be in the detail, however any reforms which help to provide more housing or allow greater flexibilities for home owners, without negatively impacting the surrounding area should be welcomed by the industry. We would urge the government to focus on positive reforms of the planning system, specifically providing greater resources to local planning authorities and removing the power that NIMBYS wield.”