Planning Series: Use Classes Order

Following the success of last year’s webinar series, our planning team launched a new series of live bitesize planning webinars. Each webinar explores at least one key planning issue or update that impacts on property developments and regeneration.

In the fourth webinar of this series, our expert takes you through the changes which came into effect in 2020, whereby new use classes were introduced.

The changes are significant and were aimed at introducing greater flexibility in the use of buildings to respond to changing market conditions and local needs without needing planning permission. 

Such changes take time to get used to, and whilst it is too soon to tell how well-received this overhaul of the Use Classes Order has been overall, our speaker Susan Ehlinger considers the main issues that have already arisen in practice.

PLEASE NOTE: As stated in this webinar, the major changes are proving to be controversial. Since our webinar on the subject was delivered, it has been announced that the campaigners, the Rights Community Action Group, have secured a Court of Appeal hearing. The date is unknown but we will provide a further update as the matter progresses.