Use Classes Order Changes

The changes, which became effective from 1st September 2020, aim to arrest the decline of city and town centres, however as an overarching article of legislation, these changes are not limited to properties in towns and city centres, the changes encompass all and will therefore equally extend to suburban and rural areas. .

These changes will impact a range of sectors in which Christie & Co specialises, including children’s day nurseries, creches, schools, convenience retail, pubs, restaurants, leisure, and medical.

When considering the impact on child centric sectors, these changes mean that it will be much easier to convert a former bank, restaurant, retail premises, office or light industrial building into a day nursery in England. These changes also mean that for those seeking to open a day nursery, a far larger greater pool of potential properties for day nursery use will become available with, from a planning perspective, a significant barrier to entry being removed.

The changes see a new distinction between day nurseries and schools, with schools transitioning to an F1 Use Class which is far narrower than the new E Class, within which nurseries will sit. 

The main changes are:

• Use Classes A, B1 and D1 (retail, office and non-residential institutions and assembly and leisure) are being removed and merged into a newly created Use Classes E (commercial, business and service), F1 (learning and non-residential institutions) and F2 (local community use). The practical effect of this will be that owners/occupiers can change use within new Class E without planning permission (subject to any specific controls).

• The new Use Class F2 (local community uses) will protect shops no larger than 280m2, selling mostly essential goods and at least one kilometre from another similar shop, so particularly where there are few facilities. Other key community assets, such as local community halls, swimming pools and outdoor recreational areas, are included in F2.

• Public Houses, wine bars, and drinking establishments will move into “sui generis”, with that “catch all” Use Class also containing hot food takeaway, cinemas, bingo halls, dance halls and live music venues. The definition of a restaurant (in Use Class E) versus a pub (in “sui generis”) is likely to get tested.   

 Darren Bond, Global Managing Director at Christie & Co, comments, “As these government changes to the Use Classes Order have been pushed through quite quickly, there are still questions around the impact to each of the sectors in which we operate. The removal of red tape will bring a boost to the high street and, in many cases, will allow property owners to consider alternative options more easily. Use Class E will bring closer alignment in the value of assets that previously sat in different markets. We are also assessing any impact in terms of lease renewals and rent reviews. As always, there will be winners and losers, at a challenging time for a number of our sectors still coming to terms with the longer-term impact of Covid-19.”

In a separate change, two new General Permitted Development Order Regulations are introduced (both with effect from 31 August 2020) to allow the construction of additional storeys on some buildings as well as the demolition and redevelopment of freestanding blocks of flats and certain commercial buildings for residential purposes. This should help “recycle” commercial buildings at the end of their useful life, and speed their transition into residential use, as well as enabling homeowners to extend their properties upwards.  

We would be very interested to hear your views. Do you feel that these changes will have a positive or negative impact on the nursery sector in England? We would really value your opinion and we invite you to complete our very short survey.