More homes to be created from Agricultural buildings – under changes to permitted development rights.
New planning rule changes, announced by Housing Minister Dominic Raab, will mean up to five new homes can be created from existing agricultural buildings on a farm, rather than the maximum of three currently permitted.
Several hundred new homes each year are created through conversions of agricultural buildings. These changes, the government hopes, will boost these numbers further.
Housing Minister Dominic Raab said, “We need to be more creative if we are to meet the housing needs of rural communities. That’s why I’m changing planning rules so rural communities have more flexibility on how best to use existing buildings to deliver more much needed homes for families.”
Government is also giving applicants an extra year to convert further storage and distribution buildings into new homes.
The amended development right for the change of use of agricultural buildings to provide up to five new homes will allow for:
- up to 3 larger homes within a maximum of 465 square metres, or
- up to 5 smaller homes each no larger than 100 square metres, or
- a mix of both, within a total of no more than 5 homes, of which no more than 3 may be larger homes
The rights are subject to conditions and limitations to control impact and to protect local amenity. The regulations will come into force on 6th April 2018.
