Michael Gove is expected to announce that a law allowing commercial buildings to be turned into homes without planning permission will extend to shops and offices of any size.It will also cut the need for them to have been empty for a period of time. Labour said the plan was an old idea and that home approvals in brownfield areas had halved under Tory rule.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities says the proposed amendments to planning law will still require buildings to be safe, uphold good standards of living space and have natural light. It added that the changes would focus on brownfield sites - areas which have already been built on - to limit development sprawling out to the outskirts of villages.
In July last year, Gove told that building denser cities would create more "walkable, liveable communities" that cut commuting times to work, and that more "buzzy urban areas" would help the UK economy. He is set to offer incentives to developers to build on brownfield land, which he said would allow "tens of thousands of new homes" to be built.
After Gove first announced he would be pursuing changes to planning law, the Local Government Association warned that offices, shops and barns were not always suitable for housing, and could result in the creation of poor quality homes.
