From next month planning rules regarding small buildings and home improvements are to be streamlined to help reduce the number of applications.
The Government have said they made the decision to improve the speed and efficiency of the application process. One of the key revisions includes more than double the size of extensions that can be added to houses from 15 to 35 square metres, depending on the size of the property and garden.
News of the changes update and replace the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2012 and follows a review of the island’s permitted development allowances, which enable some small developments to go ahead without asking for permission.
To give context about how necessary these changes are, the Cabinet Office said around 1,400 applications were made each year between 2020 and 2023. Of these, over half sought full planning approval for smaller projects, and included 70 applications per year just for replacing windows.
Commenting on the news, David Ashford, Cabinet Office Minister, said the moves to modify the regulations, which have also been agreed through public consultation, would ‘enable planning authorities to focus their efforts on more significant and complex applications.’
‘The changes will reduce the burden placed on building owners, encourage investments in, and improvements to properties, and in doing so they will also support the construction industry,’ he continued.
Approved at the February sitting of Tynwald, the new rules are due to come into force from Saturday 1st March 2025.
Photo by James Qualtrough via UnSplash
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