Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has laid out plans to allow vacant offices to be turned into new homes without planning permission. Mr Pickles is publishing a consultation that proposes to scrap the planning approval requirement for changing use from a commercial property to a residential property, which can be costly and time consuming, so it is easier for developers to turn vacant offices into new homes. This would give office conversions permitted development rights. Plans to bring empty commercial buildings back in to use to increase housing supply by deregulating the planning system were set out in the Budget's Growth Review. Mr Pickles also called for local communities and authorities to make greater use of their existing local planning powers, Local Development Orders, to grant permission and reduce the planning burden locally. There are an estimated 263 thousand dwellings in England (37 thousand in the East Midlands) which could be created by converting long term vacant office floorspace. Read more on 24dash.
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