Lambeth pursues judicial review over 'office to residential' planning reform

A second London borough is to seek a judicial review over the Government’s relaxation of the laws on permitted development rights.

Lambeth Council is to challenge the so-called ‘office to residential’ reform that allows offices to be turned into new homes.

The local authority wants exemptions to be given for Brixton town centre, Streatham town centre and the borough’s key industrial business areas.

Cllr Pete Robbins, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration at Lambeth, said: “Landlords in Brixton and Streatham have been handed a free rein to turn offices into flats – it’s simply unacceptable.

“The new regulations could harm trade in these key areas and raise the prospect of job losses, lost business rates and reduced funding for infrastructure.”

Lambeth claimed that there was a lack of transparency around deciding which areas to exempt from the legislation.

The DCLG introduced the changes on 30 May through secondary legislation amending the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development Order) 1995.

Areas in 17 local authorities were given exemptions from the new rights to convert offices into homes – a change of use from offices B1(a) to homes (C3).

Cllr Robbins said: “Based on the information provided, it is impossible to understand how the Government could have exempted residential areas in places such as Kensington and Chelsea, while ignoring the value to our local economy of Brixton and Streatham.”

In a statement the DCLG told the BBC: "The department introduced the office to residential change of use policy in order to bring underused offices back into effective use and provide new homes, and we will vigorously defend any legal challenge to the policy."

In July Islington Council became the first authority in the country to issue an Article 4 direction in a bid to overturn some of the permitted development rights introduced by the Government.

It also sought a judicial review of the ‘office to residential’ rule brought in under the reforms and the way in which the Government decided on exemptions.

The Government had accepted Islington’s application for an exemption for the borough’s Central Activities Zone but not one made for the rest of the borough.