By Emanuela Barbiroglio and Emanuele Midolo
Interactive map: data reveals PDR slowdown
The number of office to residential permitted development rights (PDR) applications submitted by developers has significantly slowed down, according to the latest data published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
In the first quarter of this year councils accepted 357 requests and refused 122, compared to 463 and 203 respectively during the second quarter of 2014.
Using the DCLG data, Property Week has produced an interactive map that shows the parts of the country where councils and local authorities have granted the highest number of office to residential conversions via the PDR planning regime, which has come under close scrutiny following the Grenfell Tower fire in June.
The data shows that 4,851 PDR conversions were granted in the period April 2014 to March 2017, with Greater London accounting for 41% of the total, with 2,008 permissions.
Hammersmith and Fulham granted the highest number of conversions (188) in a single borough followed by Richmond upon Thames (173) and Croydon (132).
The largest number of permissions granted outside London occurred in Bristol (114 permissions).
In the first half of 2017, Bromley granted the highest number of conversions, with 11 PDRs approved. Contrast that with 2015 when the borough of Greenwich granted almost three-times that number during the same period, approving 27 schemes.
Richmond upon Thames was the borough with the record number of permissions in a single quarter, approving 39 schemes in both Q2 and Q3 2014.