BSP team commissioned by MHCLG to do permitted development research

The team led by Ben Clifford, working with Jessica Ferm, Nicola Livingstone and Patricia Canelas (all from the Bartlett School of Planning) and Alex Lord and Richard Dunning (University of Liverpool), has been successfully awarded a contract by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for research on permitted development.

The bid, which was supported by UCL Consultants, was to:

• to investigate and analyse the quality of homes from permitted development rights in terms of space, amenity, location and design and how this differs from homes delivered through a planning application
• identifying the housing market drivers for the delivery of different standards of conversions to residential use and how that applies in the local area
• consider the potential impact on the number and quality of homes delivered, if other requirements, such as section 106 contributions or space standards were introduced by the local authority that would normally be considered as part of a planning application.

With the issue of this deregulated planning approval process remaining high on the policy agenda, as well as the focus of continued media attention, the Ministry was keen to have further evidence on the quality of homes delivered through permitted development, and how they compare to homes delivered after approval through a full planning application.

Looking at 11 case study authorities across England, and considering homes created from former offices, light industrial and retail units, the research will be published on the government website once complete.

Dr Ben Clifford, project lead, said “The UCL team’s previous research on office-to-residential permitted development, published by RICS last year, has attracted real interest. We’re delighted to be able to complement that work by collecting new evidence considering a wider range of permitted development schemes from every region in England.”

Links

RICS Report: ‘Impact of extending development rights to office-to-residential change’ May 2018
Dr Ben Clifford interviewed on BBC Radio 4, 1st March 2019