Mayor of London to seek CAZ exemption from office-to-residential conversion right

The GLA has been in talks with a number of London Boroughs and has indicated that the Mayor will be seeking support from borough leaders in a bid for exemption from the rules, Wandsworth Council has confirmed in a report (10-page / 60KB) to its strategic planning committee and Executive.

The exemption is believed to be sought to apply to the CAZ, which covers parts of 10 inner London Boroughs, including most of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area, as well as to the area around Canary Wharf and Shoreditch's 'tech city' area.

The proposed changes to permitted development rights were announced last month. The Government's Chief Planner, Steve Quartermain, confirmed in a letter to chief planning officers that exemptions could be granted in "exceptional" circumstances.

Quartermain said exemptions could apply where a local authority could demonstrate the rules would either lead to "the loss of a nationally significant area of economic activity" or if they would have "substantial adverse economic consequences at the local authority level".

The report said that the bid by the Mayor would be seeking exemption on the ground that the rules would lead to the loss of a nationally significant area of economic activity.

Wandsworth Council director of environment and community services said in the report that it was felt that, on balance, a bid for exemption by the Mayor would stand a better chance of being successful than individual bids by boroughs.

“Around half of all local authorities are currently intending to seek an exemption on the office to residential conversion rights. Clearly that would be a highly confusing position so this will be a real headache for the Department of Communities and Local Government to sort out,” said Richard Ford, planning expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.

Outside London, Manchester City Council has also recommended  (8-page / 55KB PDF) to its executive that it should bid for exemptions to apply in those areas of the City where "offices can be shown to be important to the City’s current and future economic growth".

Local authorities wishing to seek exemptions from the new rules must submit their bids by 22 February.