English town planning, urban design and property development
The Government has laid regulations merging shop, restaurant, office and professional services into a single new use class in one of the most significant reforms of the Use Classes Order since 1987. But, as always with planning reform, there seem to be some unanswered questions.
As UK GDP shows a slow uptick, so too does planning activity in London’s West End, growing by c. 12% on last month.
Directive policy, and regulation, for our high streets wasn’t really working before Covid. It needs to change quickly now to allow them the best chance to recover, through change and innovation, afterwards.
May’s planning activity for London’s West End shows a 50% decline in May but a much slower rate of decline than April.
Preliminary figures suggest that planning applications in London’s West End fell by over 1/3rd in April as the lock-down set in.