1. In planning, a “use class” is a way of categorising different types of land use and buildings.
2. Use classes are defined under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 and its various amendment orders,1Changes that affect SI 1987 No 764 made by all legislation
3. There are several different use classes, each of which corresponds to a specific type of land use or building.
4. At the time of writing the current use classes were last updated on 1 September 2020. 2‘Use Classes – Change of Use – Planning Portal’, accessed 13 January 2023 Generally for any applications, the use classes in effect when the application was submitted are used. There are other specific areas of legislation that allow use of use classes as they were at a specific point in time.
5. Each use class has its own set of regulations and requirements that must be met, and different use classes may have different levels of permitted development rights.
6. In some cases, a change of use from one class to another will require a planning application, and this is where the use class comes into play, as the council will assess the application against the policies and criteria for the specific use class.
Notes [ + ]