80 per cent of shops on high streets could be lost to PDRs

New research from the Town and Country Planning Association has exposed the potential risk to high-street posed by change of planning laws.

Alongside University College London, the research reveals that 80 per cent of shops and other commercial premises on high streets across England could be lost because of further changes to planning rules.

In recent years, high streets across England have been ravaged by the rise of online retailing and the impacts of the coronavirus epidemic. In response, the government has made bold claims about ‘reinvigorating’ them, ‘levelling up’ ‘left-behind’ places, and ‘building beautiful’. But at the same time as making these claims it has actually stripped away councils’ ability to shape their local places, or ensure that new homes are fit to live in.

From 1 August, the government has changed planning rules in England so that the vast majority of shops and other commercial buildings, including restaurants, cafes, offices, gyms, nurseries, day centres and light industrial units, can be made into homes without planning permission.

Examining four case study areas representing different types of built environment – Barnet, Crawley, Huntingdonshire, and Leicester – the TCPA found that 80.3 per cent of shops and other commercial buildings could be lost to residential conversion. This figure was as high as 89 per cent for Barnet. In Leicester and Crawley it stands at 77 per cent, and in Huntingdonshire, 75 per cent. Clearly, anywhere near this reduction in commercial premises – whether shops, cafés, restaurants, gyms, nurseries, or day centres – would rip the hearts out of our communities.

Fiona Howie, the TCPA’s chief executive, said: “We recognise the need for more homes and the desire to regenerate high streets. But we need new homes to be high quality and for town centres to be able to provide a mixture of services and amenity space. This latest expansion of PDRs further reduces the ability of local authorities and communities to shape their local areas. This is not the right approach if government really wants to ‘build back better’ and to revitalise our high streets.

This latest expansion of PDRs also contradicts the government’s recent emphasis on high quality design and beauty. Design codes could be a powerful tool but, as this research has shown, in urban areas around 80 per cent of shops and premises could be converted to homes and local plan policies and design codes would not apply.”