Re: New GDPO - Part 4 Class D "Flexible uses" - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

My reading of this is that you can't keep flip-flopping, once you have used Class D, you stick with it for 2 years. The clue is in the sentence before D.1. "for a single continuous period of up to two years beginning on the date the building and any land within its curtilage begins to be used for one of the flexible uses." You can obviously still use the permitted change of A4->A3->A2->A1. Phill

Phil, in the Conditions at D.2 (c) you can change to a further use in the class with a further notification within the flexible use. Do you mean it can only be used for the uses in Class D and not for any other classes for the two years?

My thinking is that this is intended to prevent the continuous rolling application of the two year permitted development right. My interpretation was that you could only seek to apply the Class D permitted development to the buildings once, ever. What I mean by that is that a building could be used for any or all of these 'flexible uses' for a period of up to two years. However, once this has expired you could not then make use of the same permitted development rights again at a future date for another period. As such, it is a 'one hit' right, once you've used it for a specific site, you cannot use it again. I hope that makes sense to people! I do recognise that I might be completely wrong with my interpretation and am happy to be corrected!

I think Ian has the correct interpretation. You can have flexible uses for up to two years, but then the use has to revert to the previous use, unless planning permission for a change of use is granted.

I also agree that Ian appears to have summarised this correctly. As an Enforcement Officer my concern relates to the control of the 2 year flexible use. If a developer fails to comply with the conditions of the permitted change this may render the use unauthorised as it would breach the terms of permitted development. However in some cases the information may be agreed retrospectively allowing formal record of the 2 year period. Any further comments would be welcome.

We are just catching up with the Flexible Uses changes, and wanted to get some views on what other will do when (if) they receive a notification (we haven’t so far). Firstly, I do agree with the way this change has been interpreted in earlier posts. I.E. the use of Class D is for a 2 year period starting with the start date of the change. There is then a 2 year continuous period where the site ( ie buildings or part buildings and land within the curtilage) can benefit from the change of use. During this time, the use can be any use within the Use Class stated in the notification, and if they want to go to another (flexible) Use Class, then a fresh notification is needed, although this does not lead to a further 2 year period. At the end of the 2 years the use reverts to the lawful use as at the start, and if the developer wants the temporary use to continue, then they need to make a planning application in the usual way. If the developer does not comply with the conditions set out in D.2, then its not permitted development. Moving on to how we will deal with any notifications, our thinking is that we will record the notification in our DM system and check that the lawful use is one of those listed in D(b). (ie A1-5, B1, D1 and D2). We will let the developer know the outcome, and if it is pd, we will remind them of the conditions set out in D.2. We will also publish the notification online (using Public Access). We had not planned to check the floor area (we are not expecting any plans) or whether the site is in an explosives storage area or a safety hazard area or a listed building/scheduled monument. Our thinking is that the developer must know the floor area and they can check and satisfy themselves on the other criteria. We won’t be directly publicising the notification, ie no neighbour letters/site notices, but any one can sign up on Public Access to receive an email alert. At the end of the 2 year period we will add such sites to our monitoring list. It would be useful to hear what others are doing.