The Government have today produced an ‘Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness’, which refers to an intention to review planning legislation to allow the change of use of vacant commercial units in urban areas, including vacant or under-utilised areas over ground floor premises, into residential units without having to go through the planning process.

The detail of this legislation will be particularly interesting having regard to the stringent development management standards that now exist to ensure that residential units provide high quality residential amenity.