New Use Class Order 2020: Use Class E and the Key Changes Explained

If you own (or are thinking of buying or leasing) a shop, restaurant, workshop, offices, or even a gym in England, big changes to the use classes are on their way.

From 1 September 2020, the old use classes that determined what you could or couldn’t do with these premises are being swept away, and much-simplified ones are being put in their place. 

The idea is to make it much easier to turn a newsagent into a café, for instance, or an accountants’ into a crѐche (or the other way around). The legislation is the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 and we’re going to explain how it works and what it means.

We have written this article to help you understand the fundamental changes to high street use classes. You will learn everything you need to know about the new Use Class E which will replace Use Classes A1, A2, A3, B1, D1 and D2. You will also learn which uses are now included in new Use Classes F1 and F2, and why this change has been made.

The New Use Classes 2020: The Basics

If you own a business, you are probably familiar with at least one or two of the existing planning use classes, which include A1 for shops, A3 for cafés or restaurants, B1(a) for offices and D1 for clinics. These mean that councils can decide what buildings are used for what purposes – and you normally need planning permission to change the use, which the council can refuse.

The current change of use system is sometimes referred to as the use classes order 1987, from the date it originally came into force. Over the years, though, central government has tried to add some flexibility by creating various permitted development rights (PDR). These allow you to change from one use to another without planning permission, although councils could suspend these using Article 4 directions.

The New Use Class E: Commercial, Business and Service

Under the use class order changes 2020, many of the existing classes are vanishing altogether. Instead, a huge number of different types of businesses – including many of those currently labelled A1, A2, A3, B1, D1 and D2 are being brought together in the new Use Class E.

Anything from a bank to a bowling alley will be covered by Class E, and the owners of won’t have to get planning permission to change the use of their building. (They will, however, still need planning permission for any external structural changes you would need if you were to turn a bank building into a bowling alley.)

Not all shops or high street businesses are going into the E pot, though. Small rural shops that sell food and are at least 1km from the next similar shop are going from A1 to the new F2 community use.

Pubs and bars (previously A4), takeaways (A5), cinemas and live music venues (D2) are getting the ever-confusing Sui-Generis (in other words, they don’t belong with anything else) classification. 

One thing you should note, though: where councils have put in Article 4 directions to block current permitted development rights – for instance A1 (shops) to A3 (restaurants and cafés) – those will stay in force even though A classes will no longer exist.

What’s the Big Idea with the New Use Class Order?

There is a combination of practical and political thinking behind the use class order changes. The political aspect is an attempt to cut down on bureaucracy and let the free market decide what we use our buildings for. Expect more changes to the planning system on those grounds in the coming months and years. 

The practical angle is that as many high streets have been struggling for a long time, it makes sense for owners to be able to switch premises from an obsolete function (eg, bank) to one that draws customers in the 21st century (eg, coffee shop).

As we said, this principle has been encouraged by permitted development rights for some time, but the 2020 changes to the use classes order bring a huge range of business types into the same category, in theory making switching much, much easier. 

How The New Use Classes Order Work for Me?

What the government is hoping the new use classes legislation will help owners of commercial property, high street businesses and consumers. For owners, this should make it easier to rent out shops and other premises because they will now have a much wider range of potential tenants.

And, for the same reason, it should be easier for them to sell shops. If you own a retail business, you now should have more choice about where you set up a shop. Depending on local competition and what the balance is like at the moment, these changes could push shop and office rents up or down.

For the consumer, the idea is that the range of local businesses will now be based on what we actually want to spend our money on, rather than the kind of shops and other services the council would prefer on the high street and elsewhere. 

But it’s important to say that – as with any changes to the planning system – how exactly this will work in practice will only be clear in a year or two’s time. There are often unintended consequences of new initiatives – and also some councils have shown over the years that they are skilful at finding small details in the regulations that they can use to prevent stop changes they don’t want.

Protecting Educational and Community Assets: New Use Classes F1 and F2

Not all buildings are up for grabs under the new rules. There is a new “learning and non-residential institutions” class  – F1 – and a community class – F2. F1 takes in half of the old D1 Use Class, and includes educational establishments, places of worship, libraries and museums.

The slightly random F2 groups together meeting halls, swimming pools, playing fields and – as mentioned earlier – isolated village shops. Tell us in the comments below if you think there’s a clear logic behind what is classed F1 and what is classed F2.  

Meanwhile, pubs and cinemas, along with live music venues – which have temporary planning protection during the continuing COVID-19 crisis – are now sui generis, which means it should be at least no easier to change their use than it is at the moment. This is generally being interpreted as attempting to prevent further loss of pubs and entertainment venues. 

What Hasn’t Changed in the Town and Country Planning Use Classes Order?

Some businesses haven’t changed categories.

Nail bars, beauty salons and betting shops all remain classed as sui generis, which means that change of use planning permission will still be needed to move any of these businesses into a new premises that isn’t already occupied by the same type of shop.

Also unaffected are B2 (general industrial) and B8 (storage and distribution), along with housing (C).

Some Confusion Is Likely to Remain

Over the years, we have had a number of people getting in touch trying to understand whether a coffee shop counted as a shop (A1) and when it was a café (A3). Now that problem has been eliminated, but other questions will remain.

For instance, how token an eating-in set-up does a premises need to qualify as a café (Use Class E) rather than a takeaway (Sui Generis). And there will be continuing arguments about whether a business is a hairdresser (E) and a beauty salon (usually Sui Generis). Do not expect that this will all be any clearer now.

Why Some Local Authorities Are Unhappy with the New Use Class Rules

Some councils, especially in London, have been trying to preserve certain types of employment outside of central areas in the face of previous central government moves.

Permitted development rights allowing changes from places of employment to housing are already a contentious issue and now there’s the option to turn offices (currently B1(a)) and workshops (currently B1(c)) into any of the many businesses covered by the new Class E.

Fundamentally, the new regulations mean that councils have much less power through the planning system to encourage certain types of businesses on the high street and elsewhere and to discourage others.

This doesn’t just affect their ability to make decisions about the change of use of individual shops but more importantly what they can suggest in their local plans meant to shape the way the area will develop over the next 15 years.

For instance, a redeveloped area intended for workshops and small cafés to boost locally based employment and craft production could end up with no workshops and no cafés. 

And while it might be profitable for a landlord to sell a small office building to someone wanting to convert it into a gym, that loss of office workers could have a serious impact on local restaurants and cafés.

Before, the council’s strategic thinking could have had an effect on whether that happened – now that power will be much reduced. The survival of existing Article 4 directions will have some effect, but new regulations go so far beyond what was possible before that that effect will be limited.

We should point out, though, that some businesses whose presence can generate a lot of public complaints – eg takeaways and betting shops – have been left out of class E. 

But Remember: You Can Still Use Planning Permission to Change Use

Whenever a new permitted development right comes in – or in this case, a new definition so that change of use isn’t development at all – some people write about it as a simple “you can do this, you can’t do this”.

But that’s not the way the English planning system works. While it’s now much simpler to turn a travel agency into a clinic than a travel agency into a bar, it doesn’t mean that you can’t change a travel agency into a bar. It just means that you will need planning permission.

Planning permission will give you peace of mind – it means you will know exactly what you are able to do and not with your premises. You won’t have to worry that in the future that the local planning authority has, for instance, decided you have gone beyond the very broad definitions of what’s allowed under class E and issued an enforcement notice.

And for any external structural changes that you need to make to help your business – so that, for example, anyone passing by understands that what used to be a travel agency is now a bar, you will also need planning permission.

How Urbanist Architecture Can Help You 

Urbanist Architecture is a London-based RIBA chartered architecture and planning practice with offices in Greenwich and Belgravia. With a dedicated focus in proven design and planning strategies, we have helped many businesses get planning permission for their new premises.

If you would like us to help you either get planning permission for a change of use not affected by the September 2020 regulations, or planning permission for external changes to the building, get in touch today.

We are a good fit if…

• You prefer a custom, one-size-does-not-fit-all approach. 
• You are passionate about good design.
• You are interested in massively effective projects that are delivered on time and need minimal revisions.
• You need an expert, strategic, multidisciplinary chartered architecture firm, and not just the cheapest provider.
• You are more interested in receiving an exceptional service than a low-end, perfunctory one.
• You want to work with a firm who will fearlessly stand with you as true believers in your proposal’s mission.