Incentivising the use of Permitted Development Rights is vital if Labour want to hit ambitious housing targets, it’s claimed.

Development finance firm Rangewell says PDR could contribute up to 185,000 new homes by 2029 – and substantially quicker than other planning routes.

PDR allow developers to undertake development projects, often focussed around changes of use, without having to secure a full planning application, allowing them to save time and money.

Yet PDR still accounts for only a small proportion of new homes delivered.

Despite offering a near year-long time saving over the worst planning delays, Rangewell’s analysis shows PDR remains underused — and the firm is urging developers to take this faster route to market more seriously.

Government figures show that during 2023/2024, net additional dwellings that came as a result of PDR accounted for just 4% of all net additional dwellings delivered across England. 

This percentage does differ regionally, climbing to 8% in the South East, whilst in the North East PDR accounted for just 1% of net additional dwellings.

Predictably, the use of PDR to deliver additional dwellings is most prominent when it comes to the change of use for properties, for example from agricultural, office, commercial or industrial to residential.

In 2023/24, PDR accounted for just 0.4% of all additional new-build dwellings delivered, whilst they helped facilitate 41% of additional net dwellings delivered as a result of change of use of an existing property.

Whilst the latest figures on PDR impact in 2024/25 are yet to be released, wider housing delivery trends show that the level of new housing supply has remained largest static over the last year.

Government figures show that in 2023/24 some 160,390 new homes were completed across England. It’s estimated that in the year since (2024/25) just 159,387 new homes have been delivered, suggesting that Labour’s plans to deliver more homes will be an uphill struggle if they’re to reverse current delivery trends.

Rangewell has compiled its own ten point plan to make PDR more useful: –

1. Implement a national 28-day fast-track for Prior Approval – Streamline approvals for low-risk schemes with automatic deemed consent.
2. Permit modest external alterations – Allow balconies, stairwells, and rear extensions to improve internal layout and functionality. Most importantly, this ensures the homes delivered are of higher quality and genuinely suitable for the people who will live in them.
3. Provide capital allowances or business rates holidays for empty commercial properties converted under PDR.
4. Align tax incentives – Apply VAT relief, capital allowances, or SDLT discounts on PDR schemes to allow marginal schemes to become sustainable
5. Expand the number of units allowed above shops, and allow larger barn conversions beyond 5 units.
6. Green rooftop additions – Allow air source heat pumps, solar panels, and rooftop gardens where design impact is low and living standards benefit.
7. Expand PDR into Article 4 and conservation zones – Unlock development in high-vacancy areas with controlled relaxation.
8. Permit limited demolition under Class Q – Allow structurally unsound barns to be part-rebuilt as long as footprint is retained, and publish national guidance on what counts as “conversion” to reduce local authority blockages.
9. Expand allowable commercial uses under Class MA – Bring in clinics, light industrial, and sui generis (e.g. laundrettes) to boost applicability.
10. Enable flexible use (e.g. live-work or co-living) – Create PDR sub-classes that support new lifestyle needs in smaller units, including use rights for serviced accommodation

Encouragingly, with over 50 lenders now actively looking to fund PDR developments, Rangewell claims access to finance has never been more competitive.