Councils with a "good case" may be exempted from office to home conversion rights

Boles told a Communities and Local Government select committee this week that, although the test that will be applied when granting exemptions to Councils will be "reasonably high", the Government will be open to "good arguments" as to why an exemption should be granted, according to a report in Planning Magazine.

The Government announced last week that it will introduce a new permitted development right for three years, which will allow conversions of office buildings into residential units without the need to obtain planning permission from the local authority.

It said that there would be an opportunity for local authorities to seek an exemption if they can demonstrate that the new permitted development rights would create "substantial adverse economic consequences". The City of London Corporation and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have already confirmed they will be seeking exemptions.

Boles told the select committee that although much of the talk in relation to the exemptions had been focused on the City of London, it is "by no means" the only borough which may have a good case for exemption.

Boles also told the committee that the Government will introduce a new online planning guidance portal in July, which will be updated whenever new legislation comes into force. The measure follows the publication last month of the Government-commissioned report by Lord Taylor, which recommended that planning guidance should be reduced and simplified.