English town planning, urban design and property development
All the planning excitement seems to have moved on to the Planning White Paper. But I still think the Class E changes have very significant, and immediate, effects. And some of those effects are really quite counter-intuitive. Here are my favourite quirks and curiosities so far.
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.
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.