Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, where an office property that qualified for a residential planning designation is demolished, whether any restrictions are placed on the building of a new property on that land according to the former office property’s footprint.

We announced on 12 October that the permitted development right for the change of use from office to residential will be made permanent. We further announced that the rights will in future provide for an office to be demolished and replaced on a like-for-like basis as residential. The details of the rights including any requirements about the use, eligibility criteria and any matters for prior approval, including in relation to demolition and replacement, will be provided in due course.