Use Classes: The Business Basics

At the end of the summer the subject of planning use classes made news headlines in the mainstream media. What purpose commercial premises were being used for was considered against what use was permitted by law, and when a change of use is proposed, what national and local authority policies should apply to the decision proved hot topics of debate. 

While many business operators will be familiar with Use Classes, especially those of us whose business is property, we should never assume it’s the case for all business people. To this end, Kate Wood, Planning Director, has compiled this primer to help explain the basics of Uses Classes.

The basics of Use Classes are set out in The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987. In summary, there are six main Use Classes in England, to which the Order applies and they set out the different uses for buildings and land. 

They are Class B, Class C, Class E, Classes F1 and F2 and something called ‘Sui Generis’.

Sui Generis

Beginning with the last one, Sui Generis - it essentially means a class of its own. It exists to ‘mop-up’ business uses that are not covered by the other five main classes, examples of which could be hot food takeaways or public houses.

F1 and F2

Walking back through the classes, Classes F1 and F2 are assigned to learning and non-residential premises and local community uses, respectively. Think schools, colleges, museums and libraries for F1 and village halls, public swimming baths and outdoor sports areas for F2.

Class C

Class C can very generally be summarised as premises in which people sleep.

Class C sub-categories cover C1 for hotel use, C2 as residential, but not private households, with C3 covering domestic, residential ‘dwelling houses’ and C4 as residential houses in multiple occupation, commonly known by the abbreviated term ‘HMOs’.

Classes B and E

There is no Class D nor Class A anymore. The bulk of business operators dwell in Classes B and E.

Class E covers Commercial, Business and Services. Under Class E uses come shops, restaurants, offices, care centres and gyms and some light industrial properties.

Industrial uses for businesses are covered by Class B use and include B2 for general industrial and B8 for storage & distribution depots/warehouses.

Change of use and use class

Changes of use within the same broad Use Class do not require planning permission unless the premises are already the subject of a planning condition restricting the use to something specific.

There are some permitted development rights to change from one use class to a completely different one. The most common one that a lay audience might have heard of is changing offices to private residential dwellings. The legal framework governing this was set out in The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.

In some instances, the permitted development is subject to making a prior approval application to the Local Authority. This is similar to a planning application but focuses on technical matters rather than the principle of the acceptability of the change of use.

Changes of use not covered under the Permitted Development banner, will require planning permission from the Local Authority.

Eddisons’ planning team can advise on change of use and permitted development rights. Contact our Planning team through the below form, or call Kate Wood on 01733 556493 or email [email protected].