A ‘SCANDALOUS’ rule change by the government will give Reading Borough Council fewer powers to stop more flats being built in Reading, it has been warned.
Under permitted development rights, landowners can convert offices into flats and upward extensions of buildings to provide homes without needing planning approval from councils.
The law was designed by the Conservative government to accelerate housing provision, but it has been unpopular with Reading Borough Council’s Labour administration for years.
Financial contributions from developers for local infrastructure does not apply to permitted development rights, which Labour says has cost £3.5 million in off-site contributions to affordable housing and £4 million in developer contributions since 2013.
In an effort to limit the number of conversions by forcing developers to go through the planning process, the council devised an Article 4 Direction which covered a wide area of Reading.
The government’s the department for levelling up, housing and communities has shrunk the area to just a fifth of its of the area covered by the council’s policy implemented in November 2022.
Councillors say this shake-up is ‘a disappointment’ and ‘a scandal’.
Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley) said further changes by Mr Gove to scrap housing targets on greenbelt land would put more pressure on urban areas such as Reading.
“This will put more pressure onto the urban areas to provide the badly needed homes and lift the pressure from the Tory shires coming up to the election,” he said. “They are playing politics with construction and planning.”
The leader of the council, Cllr Jason Brock (Labour, Southcote), said: “The permitted development rights are a real travesty. They fly in the face of the local democracy in the planning system. They result in substandard dwellings. They are the slums in the future.
“I think it’s a scandal really.
“The real travesty is how unaware the public are unaware of this, they are completely unaware that office blocks can be easily turned into substandard accommodation thanks to the permitted development rights that the Conservative government have brought in.”
The limitation of the council’s Article 4 Direction was discussed at a meeting of the council’s policy committee on Wednesday, December 13.
Cllr Rob White (Green, Park), the leader of the opposition said: “I’m disappointed by the loss of affordable housing, disappointed that this has been reduced and then reduced again, and it’s a shame the Conservatives are not here to explain to us why this has happened and they are doing to stand up to the government.”
It was noted that neither of the Conservative councillors on the policy committee, Clarence Mitchell and Simon Robinson, representatives for Emmer Green were present at the meeting, with both sending their apologies.
