Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Conclusion 6
Third Report - Permitted Development Rights
Published 22 Jul 2021
Paragraph 43
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Permitted Development Rights All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Local councils should be able to protect certain areas from permitted developments rights where they have legitimate concerns about the impact on town centres, high streets and commercial centres. We welcome the amendment to the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework clarifying that Article 4 directions may be applied “to prevent the loss of the essential core of a primary shopping area”. This is an improvement on the original proposal, although it is too early to say if it goes far enough. It is also not clear why the Government feel it necessary to amend the current wording or what problem it is trying to fix. In addition, we still believe that councils should not have to wait one year before being able to apply a direction without also being liable to pay compensation to developers.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Third Report - Permitted Development Rights (HC 32), paragraph 43, 22 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 May 2023 (deadline 22 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government has published its response to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee's July 2021 report on permitted development rights, but the page gives only a general description of it.
- The Committee's July 2021 report made "a number of recommendations" on permitted development rights, Article 4 directions and use classes.
- The response was published alongside the introduction of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and the government response to the Committee's report on The Future of Planning.
- The text available here does not set out the government's position on individual recommendations or any specific commitments; these are in the full response document, which applies to England.