Councils are blocking the conversion of farm buildings
into homes, which is hindering the growth of rural economies, according to a
lobby group that represents country landowners. The Country Land and Business
Association (CLA) has written to housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis
urging him to take action against local authorities it claims are ignoring
permitted development rights to transform the use of agricultural buildings to
a residential purpose. Statistics from CLG
show that since the law changed to encourage more conversion of agricultural
buildings only one third of applications for conversion of farm buildings to
homes have been permitted by local authorities. Read more on the Housing
Excellence website.
