Islington council has struck a deal with the government to protect some of its most important areas of offices and commercial development from new permitted development rights that could have seen wide-scale conversion to flats.
The move will come as a boost to local authorities in other areas keen to prevent loss of business space in key areas to residential development.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had previously agreed to revoke its decision to quash an Article 4 direction made by Islington – the first of its kind by a local authority – to remove government–given rights for developers to convert offices to homes without planning permission.
Now the council has announced that a new Article 4 direction has been agreed that will enable it to protect clusters of businesses and charities in the borough from being lost under the office-to-flats policy.
The then planning minister Nick Boles had quashed the council’s earlier Article 4 direction on the basis that Islington failed to deliver its housing targets over the period 2009-13.
However, the DCLG conceded that it failed to consider all the types of housing which the London Plan housing targets take into account.
Islington council announced that new planning minister Brandon Lewis MP has now agreed to a new Article 4 that covers the areas identified as the most strategically significant office and employment locations outside the central activities zone, which is already protected from permitted development rights.
Existing “prior approval” cases will not be affected.
Islington council’s executive member for housing and development, councillor James Murray, said: “The government’s initial decision to block us was wrong, and we were right to challenge it. I’m pleased that we have been able to have a constructive dialogue in recent weeks and reach an agreement that protects the most important clusters of businesses and charities in the borough.”
jess.harold@estatesgazette.com
