Offices in White Waltham business park to become 30 flats

Three applications that would turn office buildings in White Waltham's Beechwood Grove Business Park into a total of 30 flats have been approved by RBWM.

The largest of the three, Beechwood, will be turned into 15 flats (24/01020/CLAMA).

A second proposal was for 10 flats in Oakwood (24/01019/CLAMA), with a third seeking to put in four two-beds and a studio flat in Ashwood House (24/00977/CLAMA).

Shanly Homes made all three proposals.

Grove Park Business Park comprises a mix of detached commercial buildings with large areas of surface parking in between. The buildings are predominantly single storey huts.

The offices are marked for business use under class B1 (a planning class which determines whether an application needs to be made to the local authority for a change of use.)

Under permitted development rights (PDR), no planning application is necessary in order to change the use from B1 to class C3 (houses/flats).

PDR is a national rule that allows developers to make certain changes to buildings without permission from the local authority.

It is controversial, because it makes it difficult for a council to turn down planning applications turning office space into flats – even if the borough is in need of the employment space.

Proposals like these three count as permitted development unless it fails any points on a nationally decided checklist.

National planning guidance says:

“The statutory requirements relating to prior approval are much less prescriptive than those relating to planning applications.

“This is deliberate, as prior approval is a light-touch process which applies where the principle of the development has already been established.”

The local authority may ask for certain measures, such as noise mitigation, if necessary. They should also look at natural light, flooding risk, contamination risk and highway impacts.

But, says the guidance, “It is important that a local planning authority does not impose unnecessarily onerous requirements on developers, and does not seek to replicate the planning application system.”

Shanly Homes put forward documents to demonstrate that these risks were low, and highlighted that a reduced number of vehicle trips is expected result of the change.

Strong objections were raised by White Waltham Parish Council for all three plans.

They highlighted a condition the council put in place in 2021, saying that a previous set of plans (which were approved) had to be completed within three years of its approval date.

Otherwise, the plan ‘does not benefit from permitted development and will require planning permission.’

The three plans ‘seek to renew the decision’, the parish council said, which was a ‘clear contravention’ of this restriction.

They added that the plans ‘should also be viewed in the wider context of all developments at Grove Park.’

This includes the demolishing of existing buildings to create 79 dwellings and the potential conversion of Grove House from office space to residential use, they said.

“Taken together, these five developments potentially provide an additional 124 dwellings and fundamentally change the nature of the village," the parish council wrote.

This would be contrary to Borough policy, they said.

Nonetheless, RBWM did not appear to find any issues with the plans and approved them.