Zara Moon – RIBA Chartered Architect and Planning Consultant at Zara Moon Architects explains the recent changes to Class Q permitted development which could mean greater freedom when converting your agricultural building.
The changes took effect from 21st May 2024, and are the result of a consultation from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last year which proposed a large expansion to current permitted development rights in England.
The recent updates are in relation to the scale; the amount of development; extensions; the 10-year limit; and the extent of development permitted. If your agricultural building did not meet the previous Class Q limitations, you may now be in luck!
What do the changes mean?
If your building existed on or before 24th July 2023, and it wasn’t constructed under permitted development, and you have not already taken advantage of other permitted development rights, you can now apply for Class Q! Previously you would have needed to wait for 10 years.
Which also means that any building constructed after 24th July 2023 or constructed under permitted development after this date would still need to wait for 10 years.
Also, if your building existed on or before 24th July 2023 and was at that time part of an agricultural unit, yet since that date it has ceased to be part of the agricultural unit, and has not been used for anything else, or has been left empty for 10 years – you can also apply for Class Q.
You can now convert 1000sqm / 10,763sqft and create up to 10 new dwellings within the same agricultural unit. The units of which can be split across different buildings until you reach your limit.
You are now able to include a 4m rear single-storey extension! This may be a game-changer for your scheme because many local authorities do not allow you to extend a building at the point of conversion, even through a full application. The extension needs to be included at the point of conversion, located to the rear of the building, and needs to be on an area of hard-standing which existed on 24th July 2023.
The local planning department will require a prior approval application and consider issues such as highway impacts, noise, flood risk, design, neighbour amenity and location. They will also consider if the existing location would be impractical or undesirable for a dwelling e.g being adjacent to conflicting uses.
Your prior approval application covers the work required to convert the building e.g the installation or replacement of external walls, doors, windows, roofs, drainage, services etc. You can also partly demolish, and now external walls can be installed. This now potentially allows for barns or units which are currently open to the elements on one or more sides.
As with the previous legislation, the existing building structure must be capable of conversion. Applications need to be accompanied by a structural condition survey to confirm the building is suitable for conversion. If the building requires such substantial building operations which would constitute a new building, then the work would go beyond the limits of Class Q.
Limitations
There are a number of limitations which include the scale of each dwelling is restricted to 150sqm / 1614sqft; the building must have an existing suitable access road; the new dwellings must meet the minimum space standards and adequate natural light into all habitable rooms.
You cannot benefit from Class Q if your building is Listed, within a Listed Building’s curtilage, within a Conservation Area, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Park, the Broads, World Heritage Sites, sites of special scientific interest, or sites containing a scheduled listed monument.
If the limitations of Class Q are too restrictive for your requirements, Class Q may just be your first step in achieving approval. On sensitive sites where achieving approval is difficult, permitted development rights can be used to achieve approval for the principle of housing on this particular site and location. Once approval has been granted it represents a fall-back position of which housing can now be developed on the site. You can then pursue a full planning application for your required scheme which has already overcome the issue of whether housing is acceptable on this site.
If you are looking to convert your agricultural building into an office, shop, commercial, or hotel use – Class R (agricultural conversion to flexible commerical use) would be your route instead.
Further information
If you have an agricultural building you would like to repurpose for a new use – get in touch with your site address and we will take it from there.
Zara Moon – RIBA Chartered Architect and Planning Consultant at Zara Moon Architects explains the recent changes to Class Q permitted development which could mean greater freedom when converting your agricultural building.
The changes took effect from 21st May 2024, and are the result of a consultation from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last year which proposed a large expansion to current permitted development rights in England.
The recent updates are in relation to the scale; the amount of development; extensions; the 10-year limit; and the extent of development permitted. If your agricultural building did not meet the previous Class Q limitations, you may now be in luck!
What do the changes mean?
If your building existed on or before 24th July 2023, and it wasn’t constructed under permitted development, and you have not already taken advantage of other permitted development rights, you can now apply for Class Q! Previously you would have needed to wait for 10 years.
Which also means that any building constructed after 24th July 2023 or constructed under permitted development after this date would still need to wait for 10 years.
Also, if your building existed on or before 24th July 2023 and was at that time part of an agricultural unit, yet since that date it has ceased to be part of the agricultural unit, and has not been used for anything else, or has been left empty for 10 years – you can also apply for Class Q.
You can now convert 1000sqm / 10,763sqft and create up to 10 new dwellings within the same agricultural unit. The units of which can be split across different buildings until you reach your limit.
You are now able to include a 4m rear single-storey extension! This may be a game-changer for your scheme because many local authorities do not allow you to extend a building at the point of conversion, even through a full application. The extension needs to be included at the point of conversion, located to the rear of the building, and needs to be on an area of hard-standing which existed on 24th July 2023.
The local planning department will require a prior approval application and consider issues such as highway impacts, noise, flood risk, design, neighbour amenity and location. They will also consider if the existing location would be impractical or undesirable for a dwelling e.g being adjacent to conflicting uses.
Your prior approval application covers the work required to convert the building e.g the installation or replacement of external walls, doors, windows, roofs, drainage, services etc. You can also partly demolish, and now external walls can be installed. This now potentially allows for barns or units which are currently open to the elements on one or more sides.
As with the previous legislation, the existing building structure must be capable of conversion. Applications need to be accompanied by a structural condition survey to confirm the building is suitable for conversion. If the building requires such substantial building operations which would constitute a new building, then the work would go beyond the limits of Class Q.
Limitations
There are a number of limitations which include the scale of each dwelling is restricted to 150sqm / 1614sqft; the building must have an existing suitable access road; the new dwellings must meet the minimum space standards and adequate natural light into all habitable rooms.
You cannot benefit from Class Q if your building is Listed, within a Listed Building’s curtilage, within a Conservation Area, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Park, the Broads, World Heritage Sites, sites of special scientific interest, or sites containing a scheduled listed monument.
If the limitations of Class Q are too restrictive for your requirements, Class Q may just be your first step in achieving approval. On sensitive sites where achieving approval is difficult, permitted development rights can be used to achieve approval for the principle of housing on this particular site and location. Once approval has been granted it represents a fall-back position of which housing can now be developed on the site. You can then pursue a full planning application for your required scheme which has already overcome the issue of whether housing is acceptable on this site.
If you are looking to convert your agricultural building into an office, shop, commercial, or hotel use – Class R (agricultural conversion to flexible commerical use) would be your route instead.
Further information
If you have an agricultural building you would like to repurpose for a new use – get in touch with your site address and we will take it from there.
