That the eighteen non-immediate Article 4 Directions to withdraw Permitted Development Rights granted by the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) (“the GPDO”), Schedule 2, Part 20, Class ZA be confirmed as recommended in the report covering the areas shown on the map at Appendix 1 to the report, to come into force on 11 May 2022.

The report recommended that the council should confirm eighteen non-immediate Article 4 Directions to withdraw permitted development rights which allow the demolition of purpose-built detached buildings used for offices (within former B1a office, B1b research and B1c light industrial uses) together with their replacement with a single detached block of flats or a single dwellinghouse. These Directions would apply to the three Business Improvement Areas (BIA) in Bromley Town Centre; Strategic Industrial Locations (SIL); the majority of Locally Significant Industrial Sites (LSIS); and all three Office Clusters, all as shown in the Bromley Local Plan. These are  key areas for the retention and promotion of offices, research and light industrial uses. The Article 4 Directions would accompany the existing Directions which remove Part 3, Class O office to residential PD rights within the Business Improvement Areas and three Office Clusters. It is considered expedient to restrict the operation of the new office to residential demolition PD right in the key areas outlined above due to the strategic importance of these designated areas. The Directions will thereby avoid harmful impacts upon economic development and ensure any development within these areas is properly planned in line with the policies in the adopted Local Plan. One representation was received noting the benefits of the existing concentration of businesses in the Franklin Estate LSIS and the need to protect these.