Extensive building changes could affect Class Q PDR approval

Completing extensive improvements to an agricultural building prior to a Class Q permitted development rights planning application could result in the proposal being rejected.

The warning for farmers follows a recent case in Cornwall where plans to convert a barn failed on appeal to the planning inspector.

The applicant planned to convert the building to a dwelling using Class Q, which allows conversion without a full planning application.

See also: Farm buildings: Know your permitted development rights

However, Cornwall Council deemed that the building was not in existence and in agricultural use on 20 March 2013, a Class Q requirement, because the extensive repairs meant it was no longer the original building.

The case went to appeal, but the government planning inspector ruled in agreement with the authority’s assessment.

The building at the centre of the appeal is a three-bay, steel-framed portal structure with corrugated metal sheeting above 1.2m-high concrete block walls.

In his ruling, the inspector said the original building had been subject to storm damage, which had resulted in a replacement roof with a steeper pitch and repairs to the walls.

That work had been “recent and very extensive’’ and the building’s footprint was also slightly smaller than the one shown in earlier photographs of the site.

The inspector ruled that there was insufficient evidence that the relevant Class Q conditions, limitations and restrictions had been met.

Learn from this case

Val Coleby, head of planning at Berrys, said Class Q does allow for the replacement of roof and walls as part of the conversion process.

However, if all the walls and the roof have to be replaced, this is not taken as conversion but as a new build, meaning the proposal would sit outside Class Q regulations.

“The message from this case is to not overdo the repair works to a building just before applying for Class Q conversion,’’ she said.

“Buildings can be repaired in association with their approved use over time, just don’t do it all at once.’’

If repairing a building, consider its purpose as an agricultural building.

“If repairs go beyond what is required for the building to be used for its agricultural purpose, the planning authority will smell a rat if there is a subsequent application for conversion to a new use,’’ said Ms Coleby.

As a result of similar appeal decisions and High Court judgments, the types of buildings that can be converted using the Class Q process is becoming ever more restricted.

“Local planning authorities will be aware of this appeal decision and may look more closely at any recent repairs to a building and their extent, if they are then subsequently the subject of a Class Q conversion,’’ said Ms Coleby.

However, the government has recently increased the floorspace that can be converted from 450sq m to as much as 865sq m in certain circumstances.

Ms Coleby said applicants should engage a professional planning consultant for any Class Q application. 

“They appear simple, but they are really not,’’ she said.

“There are so many pitfalls and missteps you can make, from a line being in the wrong place on a plan or a minor wording on a form, that can instantly take you out of Class Q and the freedom it allows for conversion, from which there can be no going back.’’