Planning deregulation that makes it easier to convert offices into homes has led to “a type of inequality not seen in Britain for over a century”, according to a major review of the English planning system.
The review, led by the former housing minister Nick Raynsford, said changes to so-called permitted development rights, which enable developers to convert offices to homes without a full planning application, have led to “extremely poor living conditions”.
More than 100,000 new homes have been created under the five-year-old extension to permitted development rights, which enable certain types of construction to take place with councils having only limited powers of veto.
