Hundreds of office units lost to national planning rules, says report

RBWM has lost hundreds of office units to national planning rules – equating to 2,600 jobs – and is ramping up efforts to fight back.

Cabinet will be voting on ‘Article 4’ protections next week, which let RBWM defend specific employment sites from being turned into flats.

Currently, permitted development rights (PDR) allow developers to turn offices into flats as long as they meet a nationally set checklist of requirements, under the ‘prior approval’ process.

Previously, developers could only convert up to 1,500sqm of space into flats without going through the full planning process.

But since March, there is no longer any limit to the floorspace that can be converted, and no requirement for the building to be vacant for three months.

Between 2013 and 2023, about 36,000sqm of office floorspace – equivalent to about 2,600 jobs – was lost, as a result of 399 new flats being completed in RBWM via this process.

Moreover, there is a pipeline of unimplemented prior approvals totalling 22,000sqm that would create a further 368 dwellings.

Given the loss of Mattel House and other key office buildings, councillors have been unhappy about this process for some time, and officers have raised concerns too.

The Borough Local Plan (BLP) stated that ‘uncontrolled loss’ of space for offices ‘cannot be sustained in the long term’ and committed to Article 4 protections ‘as soon as possible’.

Article 4 allows a local planning authority to remove permitted development rights within a defined area.

While this does not prevent a change of use completely, it ensures that any bid requires full planning permission.

It can therefore ‘be more robustly scrutinised’ by RBWM in relation to its planning policies.

Many councils have cited concerns over poor-quality homes, often ‘very small’ and lacking natural light and outdoor space, said RBWM's planning officers.

These schemes also fail to provide any affordable housing.

With Article 4, RBWM could have ‘a greater level of control over employment floorspace on the highest quality sites,’ officers wrote in a report.

Moreover, the council would have more control over design of proposed flats, and by extension, the living conditions of future occupiers.

It can also insist on provision of affordable housing – likely to be 30 per cent of the total units, depending on site threshold.

Though RBWM would lose some income from planning fees, it expects this will be made worth it by the ability to charge Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and S106 agreements.

This money contributes to building infrastructure that will support residents (schools, GP surgeries, etc) or the Borough at large.

Prior approval developments do not make these financial contributions.

“The continued loss of such floorspace is of concern given the highly constrained supply of development land within the Borough,” wrote RBWM’s planning team.

“Further losses of employment floorspace would very likely necessitate the allocation of new, greenfield sites to replace them.”

RBWM has been looking to introduce Article 4 protections in 31 sites, including Vanwall Business Park, the home of Mattel House and other lost/at risk offices, including the former Costain HQ.

The wheels have rumbled on in the background, with the Government telling RBWM the evidence for its Article 4 bid was ‘good’.

RBWM agreed to provide further evidence justifying each individual location in April. As such, any modifications by the Secretary of State ‘should not be a complete surprise.’

However, since then the Government has changed over, there are some uncertainties.

It is ‘unclear at this stage whether the Labour Government will take a different approach to the Conservative Government in relation to Article 4 Directions,’ officers wrote.

If the council agrees to confirming the Article 4 direction – and there is no intervention by the Secretary of State – it would come into force on January 30, 2025.