Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones has called on the government to scrap “permitted development” rules which allow developers to convert offices into the “slums of the future” without the consent of local councils.
Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones is critical of government policy on permitted development
Even though Croydon’s Labour-run council blocked further permitted development in the town centre from 2014, official figures show that the borough has the biggest number of conversions in the country, with almost 500 in the last year alone.
Some of those have been commissioned by the council itself, as it has bought up disused office blocks in Thornton Heath and Norbury to convert for homeless people who would otherwise have to stay in B&B temporary accommodation. Alison Butler, the Labour council’s cabinet member for housing, recently told a Town Hall meeting that the council is considering further such conversions.
Nationally, 54,000 housing units have been created from office conversions since 2010. Government figures show there were 494 office to residential property conversions in Croydon in 2018-2019.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday Jones, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, criticised the Tory government for letting unscrupulous developers bypass council planning rules and affordable housing requirements.
Permitted development rights were introduced by the Tories in 2013 ostensibly to boost housing supply. In fact, they have given their developer mates – some of whom have been enthusiastic donors to the Conservative Party – free rein to make massive profits by exploiting the demand for homes. What has resulted is thousands of “rabbit hutch” properties just a few feet wide in former office blocks, and unsuitable buildings with numerous health and safety failings.
Research for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors found that 7 out of 10 permitted development properties fail to meet national space standards. It has been shown that Croydon has the country’s smallest such flats.
An investigation into permitted development last year discovered flats in Purley measuring just 9m² converted from offices, and residents living in “psychological torture” in the former BT headquarters in central Croydon – Delta Point – due to lack of soundproofing, running water or ventilation.
The notoriously small flat in Croydon, as featured in London Assembly Member Tom Copley’s report published last year
Bypassing planning requirements also gives developers a “get out clause” from affordable housing requirements, with the Local Government Association predicting that more than 10,000 affordable homes have been lost nationally as a result.
The Labour Party has committed to ending the ability of developers to convert non-residential buildings such as offices, storage units and industrial buildings into homes without receiving proper planning permission. These types of development would be possible under a Labour Government, and many will be encouraged, but developers will need to get planning permission in the usual way.
“Permitted development is a symptom of our broken housing system,” Jones said.
“It was sold by the Conservatives as a solution to the housing crisis, but the reality is people in Croydon stuck in poor quality, rabbit hutch housing and developers dodging their affordable housing obligations.
“To fix the housing crisis, we need more genuinely affordable, high-quality homes. This Conservative housing free-for-all gives developers a free hand to build what they want but ignore what local communities need.
“Labour would give local people control over the housing that gets built in their area and ensure developers build the low-cost, high-quality homes that the country needs.”
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One expects and hopes that the council’s own conversions would be properly planned and designed, unlike so many conversions of shops and offices, and old pubs, to “living units”.
I support anything that prevents bad development, so welcome Sarah Jones’ initiative.
It is not just property developers influencing Conservative Policy to build human warehouses. South Croydon Tory MP Chris Philp’s company Pluto Finance has specialised in providing bridging loans to permitted developments. No wonder he is so anti greenfield development and pro so called “brownfield” development.
The problem with office conversions goes beyond their inappropriateness to bodge homes out of offices with all the compromised space standards, common use of service amenities and poor sound proofing amongst many defects this entails. Office blocks are designed for a 30 year life. No real thought is put into their design beyond this. Many conversions are being produced out of blocks who have exceeded this time limit. Investors appear unaware of such limitations and once defects come to light it always interesting to see how mortgage finance dries up. No wonder such dodgy finance companies like Philp’s are providing the capital with their financial operation based in Cyprus. Anyone with any knowledge of house construction would not touch them with a barge pole.
https://developmentfinancetoday.co.uk/article-desc-7709_
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/25377/chris_philp/croydon_south