Further to Minute 35 of the meeting held on 23 September 2021, the Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report seeking approval to confirm an Article 4 Direction that would remove certain permitted development rights that would result in new residential dwellings across the town centre, district and local centres, core employment areas and a number of other commercial areas.  The following documents were attached to the report:

·       Appendix 1: Equality Impact Assessment

·       Appendix 2: Summary of representations received and proposed response

·       Appendix 3: Made Article 4 direction

·       Appendix 4: Climate Impact Assessment Tool

The report noted that there had been significant concerns around the impact of permitted development rights within Reading, and that the Committee had agreed, at its meeting held on 23 September 2021 (Minute 35 refers) to make an Article 4 direction to remove the permitted development rights of greatest concern within a number of areas of Reading.

The report explained that the proposed direction had been made on 10 November 2021, specifying that it would come into force on 15 November 2022, after a 12-month lead-in required to avoid the need for compensation.  A period of consultation had been held in November-December 2021 and the representations received were summarised in Appendix 2 with detailed responses.  The direction could not come into force unless it was confirmed by the Council taking the representations to the consultation into account.  It was not considered that the representations received formed grounds not to proceed to confirmation.  The report therefore recommended that the responses to the representations received to the consultation be agreed, and that the Direction as originally made, which was attached to the report at Appendix 3, be confirmed.

The report stated that national policy set a high bar for Article 4 directions that impacted on changes of use to residential, and that officials at the Department of Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had expressed concerns that the evidence provided did not show that the smallest possible geographical area had been covered.  Discussions between Council officers and DLUHC were ongoing and there was not expected to be a resolution of the issue before the direction was due to come into force on 15 November 2022.  The advice from DLUHC had been to proceed with confirming the direction given the approaching date of coming into force and the fact that the Council did not have powers to amend the direction once it had been made.  There remained a strong likelihood that the Secretary of State would use modification or cancellation powers; officers’ understanding was that the power to modify the direction would be used based on an agreed approach with the Council, albeit that this was not required.  The power to modify could be used after the direction came into force.  Until such time as the Secretary of State modified or cancelled the direction, it would be in force as originally intended.

The report explained that confirmation of the direction at this point therefore represented a pragmatic approach that would allow discussions to continue and avoid the significant further delay of making a new direction.  Notices of confirmation of the direction would need to be served, including by site notice, local advertisement, notification of statutory undertakers that owned land within the area, local businesses and the Secretary of State.  The direction would come into force on 15 November 2022, and from that date any proposal for development specified in the direction, within the specified area, would require planning permission.

Resolved –

(1)      That the responses to the representations to the consultation on the Article 4 Direction, as set out in Appendix2, be agreed;

(2)      That the non-immediate Article 4 Direction made on 10 November 2021 covering the area shown in Appendix 3 be confirmed, to remove the following permitted development rightswithin Schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 (as amended):  

- Part 3 class MA; 

- Part 3 class M; 

- Part 3 class N; 

- Part 20 class ZA; 

- Part 20 class AA; 

- Part 20 class AB.