Analysis shows how high streets will become place for housing
Councillor Phil Bateman said today ” One of the hottest topics in and around our City at the moment is Government Planning Policy. We have seen disagreement, and bad tempered discussion already in the City Council Chambers. Following the Government targets for Local Authorities to deliver housing.
The Gov are placing pressures on the Green Belt . That isnt popular with our localities. Now hot on the heals of those Tory Policy objectives, and starting from tomorrow we have this Government Policy. The Times reports that High streets shops,cafes and Restaurants can be converted to houses, without planning permission! “
Analysis conducted for the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) indicates that four out of five high street premises face being converted into housing following the Government’s overhaul of the planning system. From tomorrow, developers in England will be allowed to turn a range of high street businesses into flats without planning permission.
The TCPA study looked at representative high streets in Leicester, Huntingdonshire, Barnet in north London and Crawley, West Sussex. It found an average of 80% of shops and other commercial buildings could be lost.
Councillor Bateman added ” The Conservative Government are really ensuring that the shake up they have promised to take place around planning, look more like a developers charter, and the checks and balances that Local Communities carry out are being truncated.”
The full article was published The Times today Saturday 31 July 2021.
