Office space in RBWM could be protected by February 2025

Protections for key office space in Windsor and Maidenhead could come into force in the new year – if central Government agrees.

Last June, there was a call to action by a concerned Maidenhead man for the council to act to protect office space from development into flats.

Under current national rules a developer can change the use of an office building into flats via a process called ‘permitted development rights’ (PDR) and the prior approval process.

The theory behind PDR is that it allows improvements and extensions without needing full planning permission that would be ‘out of proportion’ with the impact of works.

If the developer does not make any external changes to the building, and meets some other basic requirements – such as demonstrating the flats would offer enough space to meet national quality of life standards – the plans should be approved.

But the use of PDR in Windsor and Maidenhead has gone further than RBWM is comfortable with, as seen with the fateful Mattel House in Vanwall Business Park.

An application to turn it into flats was met with dismay from councillors decrying the large loss of employment space this would bring.

The developers had permission under PDR to convert the existing building to 28 flats, meaning that there was not a lot the council could do to prevent its transition.

Between 2013 and 2022, about 32,000sqm of office floorspace (equivalent to about 2,300 jobs) was lost through permitted development rights across the borough.

The way to protect employment sites from this is to instigate ‘Article 4’ protections, which removes PDR for select sites.

In 2019 Windsor and Maidenhead council was ‘in the process’ of doing this, but still nothing had happened years later.

In February, RBWM said it was consulting on Article 4 measures for 31 sites, including Vanwall Business Park, Maidenhead Office Park, Furze Platt Business Centre Park, Woodlands Business Park, Cordwallis Business Park, Foundation Park, Boyn Valley Industrial Estate, Grove Park Business Park, Prior’s Way Industrial Estate, and Lower Mount Farm in Cookham.

Since then, there has been a slew of planning applications using the PDR route to turn office buildings into flats, especially in central Maidenhead – some successful, others not.

Now it looks as though the protections may come in for January 2025.

Councillor Adam Bermange, cabinet member for planning, governance and asset management, said planning officers are reviewing responses to a consultation from earlier this year.

After this, it will propose the Article 4 restrictions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which ‘has the ultimate say’ over the Direction and what form it takes.

“In recent years, the borough has lost a significant amount of much-needed business premises, particularly offices, through national permitted development rights, which unfortunately over-ride local protections. This is not sustainable,” said Cllr Bermange.

“Officers intend to bring a report to cabinet in the autumn and, if cabinet decides to confirm the Direction, then it would take effect at the end of January 2025 as previously set out.”

Boyn Hill resident Andrew Hill was key in raising the alarm for the possible risks of not putting in Article 4 protections. He said he welcomed the news.

“The current system which picks off individual buildings at random to become flats has led to an ultimately chaotic approach to employment land and threatened jobs in the long term,” he said.

“Article 4 protections in future will lead to sensible holistic planning and helps protect jobs and attract new ones.”