§ 146. Mr. HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice his Department gives to local authorities concerning the granting of temporary residential consent for empty office buildings.
§ Mr. BaldryLast October we published a draft Planning Policy Guidance Note 6, Town Centres and Retail Development, which at paragraph 14 states
In those town centres that contain vacant office and retail premises that seem unlikely to be reused for that purpose, local planning authorities should encourage conversion to other service, retail or residential uses. Such buildings, especially older office buildings originally converted from houses, may be particularly suitable for conversion to flats, for example for students and householders without cars.We will finalise the draft note within the next few months.
Some developers might believe that such a conversion will mean for ever abandoning the prospect of attracting a commercial tenant. We see no such difficulty. Owners may seek temporary residential permissions—for, say, 10 years —with the certainty of being able to switch back to commercial use at a later date.