The Government recently made far reaching changes to the extent of permitted development rights set out in the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (GPDO). The GPDO grants planning permission for a range of predominantly minor developments, subject to certain limitations and conditions.

The new changes, which came into effect on 30 May 2013, may open up windows of opportunities for independent schools to increase the value of their property portfolios.

Erecting fences, gates etc

All schools are now allowed to erect any gate, fence, wall or means of enclosure alongside highways up to 2 metres high, where before all such fences were limited to a height of 1 metre.

Residential Home Extensions

The changes in respect of home extensions may be useful in increasing the value of a school's residential property portfolio. Essentially, the changes allow for larger home extensions to be built provided the owner complies with a 'prior approval' procedure by providing certain information to the Local Planning Authority (LPA).

Owners have until 30 May 2016 to construct and complete single storey rear extensions, provided the extension does not extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by more than 8m in the case of a detached house or 6m in the case of any other house and does not exceed 4m in height.

It is only possible to rely on these permitted development rights outside sensitive areas such as National Parks and conservation areas. It is also important to bear in mind that the measures are more restrictive than they appear.

The existing limitations and conditions on householder extensions in the GPDO remain, eg development will not be able to cover more than 50% of the curtilage of the house and any extensions which have an eaves height of greater than 3m must not be within 2m of the boundary.

Change to use of offices to residential use to maximise the value of redundant buildings

This change was brought about to bring 'underused buildings back to life and create much needed new housing'. Under this controversial measure, resisted by many local authorities, buildings within class B1 (a) office use can change to residential use provided the building was being used for offices immediately before 30 May 2013 or, if vacant at that date, the use before the vacancy. As with home extensions, the right to make the change of use will only apply for three years – expiring on 30 May 2016.

Before commencing development, the applicant must apply to the LPA to ascertain whether its prior approval is required due to the impact on transport and highways, contamination risks or flooding. The applicant cannot start the development unless informed by the LPA that its prior approval is not required or is given, or 56 days have elapsed from the date the application was received and the LPA has not provided a decision. There are important limitations to this right and the regulations confirm that 17 Councils have been granted exemptions from the application of these permitted development rights. However, in limited cases, this right may be of use to schools with redundant property in their portfolios which could be developed for valuable residential purposes.

Other changes

There are various other changes which may be of interest to schools. For example, to encourage the Government's free schools agenda, land and buildings currently within businesses, hotels, residential institutions, secure residential institutions and assembly and leisure uses will be able to convert to a state-funded school.

The changes as a whole represent a significant extension to the right to develop without the need for express planning permission. They come on the back of a raft of government initiatives aimed at 'kick starting the economy'. Nick Boles, Minister for Planning recently remarked that if anyone comes to him 'with an idea for new planning legislation' he is 'going to shoot them'.

It remains to be seen whether the changes will have the impact intended, and indeed whether the Government can resist making further reforms rather than letting the planning regime settle down. In the meantime, developers, including schools, with property portfolios should be looking for opportunities of how to use the new changes to their advantage.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.