18,000 affordable homes lost in office conversions, says LGA

More than 18,000 affordable homes have been lost due to office-to-residential conversions, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned.

It was discovered 73,575 new houses have been converted from offices under permitted development rights, which allow owners to make changes without planning permission.

The number of affordable home sin the UK has dropped recently, as shown by statistics from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

In the period of 2020-2021 52,100 affordable homes were completed and 57,417 were in the process of being built, a 12% and 16% decrease respectively when compared to the year before.

The LGA, a representative body for 350 councils in England and Wales, has called for the removal of permitted development rights to ensure the delivery of affordable homes across the country.

Developments that go through the planning system are also subject to quality assurance measures, which fulfils a key priority in the Levelling Up white Paper to improve the overall quality of housing.

Cllr David Renard, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: ‘Councils will continue to play a key role in helping the nation to level up and recover from the pandemic, and that includes meeting our joint ambition with government to tackle the housing shortage and build the homes we desperately need.

‘There is a need for more affordable housing across the country but regrettably premises such as offices, agricultural buildings, shops, restaurants and light industry can now be converted into houses without the need to provide any affordable homes.

‘This is why we would like to see the permitted development rights removed. Giving planning powers back to councils will also support local ambitions to revive and reimagine high streets and town centres.

‘A local, plan-led system is crucial in delivering on levelling up ambitions to ensure councils can deliver the right types of homes in the right places with appropriate infrastructure, ensuring a mix of high-quality affordable housing that meets the needs of local communities, while also giving those communities the opportunity to shape and define the area they live in.’

Photo by Vladislav Vasilev