Government is doing several things to help improve the supply of new housing. This is a good thing.
One way to increase the number of homes in rural areas is to allow suitable agricultural buildings to be converted into houses. A simplified route is currently available, without having to do a full planning application this is known as prior approval’. There are other prior approval routes for other types of building too, including converting offices to residential.
As of April 6, government increased the number of homes that can be created from an agricultural building from three to five. They say several hundred’ homes are created each year through the conversion of such buildings, and these changes are expected to increase this number.
I welcome any idea that creates more new houses and simplifies the planning system. While this alone will not address housing shortages in all areas, it will have a cumulative impact in rural areas. This, along with a package of other schemes, will definitely help.
I do think there are some teething problems with these new/amended powers. At a local level, I find some authorities are still mounting onerous requirements on applicants. On the face of it, the level of information required is limited, which saves time and cost. However, once prior approvals are submitted to a council, many still request a long list of additional drawings and reports which very much flies in the face of the spirit of the legislation. At JT Planning, we have experienced some submissions that have essentially became planning applications because of the level of detail and onerous requests for additional information. This wasn’t the intention of the new powers.
These are also good examples of how this process works very well. JT Planning recently agreed a prior approval to convert a North Shields office building into 25 residential apartments. It sailed through planning at North Tyneside Council and didn’t require a high level of detail.
I also accept that there are other problems. Many local authorities are concerned that prior approvals avoid the need to consider matters such as affordable housing essentially, none is required. Cumulatively this can have an adverse effect on the supply of affordable housing in rural areas.
I genuinely think this is a fair point. The system already grossly under-delivers affordable housing in many areas so the prior approval process isn’t going to make this situation any better. However, there are limitations and restrictions on the use of prior approvals which means their use is not necessarily widespread in all areas.
It is crucial to have a balanced housing market and delivering new affordable housing where it is needed, remains a key policy aim for most local authorities.
Overall, the idea that new housing can be delivered in a simpler, quicker, more cost-effective way is good for applicants and is good for the housing market. We still need to tweak the details to ensure that onerous requests for costly additional information is not allowed.
