London high streets should be protected from new regulations

As Londoners responded to the COVID-19 measures and stayed in their local areas, the importance of having easy access to a local high street has come into sharp focus. At the end of August, before the second wave hit, smaller city centres had reached 90% recovery, while in London it was only 30%.

Under newly proposed regulations, high street gyms, shops, banks and more could be quickly turned into residential properties without going through local authority reviews and quality checks. The London Assembly has today called on the Chair of the London Assembly to write to the Secretary of State and to the Prime Minister to urge them to reconsider implementing the new Permitted Development Rights.

Nicky Gavron AM, who proposed the motion, said:

“The Mayor is putting London’s high streets and town centres at the heart of our economic recovery strategy, but the government's plans to vastly expand permitted development rights is likely to put a huge spanner in the works.

“The new permitted development rights proposals seem to directly contradict the government's own goal of helping the high street recover, backed by its own Highstreet Taskforce. If these go ahead, the government will allow a wide range of high-street fixtures such as Health Centres, nurseries, cafes and restaurants, on top of shops and creative workspaces, to be converted into residential units without having to go through the planning system.

“The London Assembly is united in its opposition to these proposals. They are a short-sighted and misguided approach to tackle housing shortages and not only puts countless livelihoods and businesses in the capital at risk, but rides rough-shod over local democracy.

“It is now time for these plans to be reconsidered, and for support to be given to local authorities to help them develop their own renewal plans, in partnership with communities and business.”

The full text of the motion is:

“The London Assembly notes the government’s proposal to create a new Permitted Development Right to allow all uses encompassed within Use-Class E to be converted into residential without going through the planning system. This subsumes and expands previous PDRs for shops, light industry and offices, to now include banks and estate agents, restaurants and cafes, gyms and indoor sports facilities, nurseries, creches and day care, GP surgeries and health centres. This PDR would apply to buildings of any size, anywhere, including in conservation areas and current Article 4 directions would not apply.

The Assembly has previously unanimously passed motions in opposition to Permitted Development Rights, including Office to Residential Permitted Development Right as a result of which we saw occupiers and tenants evicted to make way for substandard housing.

While recognising that town centres do need renewal, and that the high-street is in a state of transition, we believe that our highstreets and town centres are best planned by local authorities, in partnership with local communities and businesses. The London Assembly believes that allowing random and uncontrolled conversions to residential risks irreversible damage to London’s highstreets and town centres - from local to international. The risk is not just to the economic recovery of London, but to Londoner’s livelihoods and to crucial services and amenities upon which Londoner’s rely. Moreover, this PDR would undermine the ability of local authorities to democratically manage developments their areas and respond to the needs of their communities.

We agree with the with the 27 businesses and organisations who wrote to the Secretary of State stating that this PDR “risks putting the long-term health of our town centres at risk for the sake of a short-term stimulus.”

This Assembly therefore asks the Chair to write to the Secretary of State and to the Prime Minister to note the Assembly’s concerns and urge them to reconsider implementing this proposed new Permitted Development Right.”