This Order amends, primarily, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (“the GPDO”). The GPDO provides, for the purposes of section 59 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (c. 8), for the granting of permission for certain classes of development without the requirement for a planning application to be made under Part 3 of that Act. The classes of permission, together with their accompanying conditions, limitations and restrictions, are set out in Schedule 2 to the GPDO.

Many of the classes of permission in Schedule 2 to the GPDO are defined by reference to classes of uses specified in the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (“the Use Classes Order”). The Use Classes Order specifies classes for the purposes of section 55(2)(f) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which provides that a change of use of a building or other land does not involve development for the purposes of the Act if the new use and the former use are both within the same specified class.

The Use Classes Order was substantially amended in relation to England by the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020, primarily to insert a new Schedule 2 providing for new use Classes E (commercial, business and service), F.1 (learning and non-residential institutions) and F.2 (local community), which subsumed existing use classes. The main purpose of this Order is to amend the GPDO in consequence of these changes.

Articles 3 to 9 amend provisions in Parts 1, 3, 4, 7, 11 and 20 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO in consequence of the new structure of the Use Classes Order.

Additionally, articles 4 and 9 amend Class MA of Part 3, and Classes A and AA of Part 20, of Schedule 2 to the GPDO so as to require developers to obtain the prior approval of the local planning authority as to certain matters relating to fire safety where it is proposed to introduce dwellinghouses in buildings above a height threshold. Where a prior approval application is made pursuant to these provisions, the local planning authority must consult the Health and Safety Executive.

This Order makes further minor and consequential amendments to the GPDO.

Article 10 amends the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 so as to add the new requirements to consult the Health and Safety Executive on fire safety matters to the list of requirements to consult contained in article 22 (duty to respond to consultation) of that Order.

Article 11 makes minor amendment to the Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (England) Regulations 2015 to add certain classes to the list of development prescribed for the purposes of subsections (2A)(a) and (3C)(a) of section 108 (compensation where planning permission granted by development order is withdrawn) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Article 12 corrects a minor error in the Town and Country Planning (Section 62A Applications) (Procedure and Consequential Amendments) Order 2013.

Article 13, together with the Schedule, makes transitional and saving provision.

An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside this instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument.