New dwellings for a Cotswold Village secured under Class MA

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Background

The Royal Agricultural University instructed MEP to obtain the necessary permission to convert the existing building, which was formerly used as an innovation centre, to 5 residential dwellings. MEP identified that owing to the fact that the permitted development rights were altered in April to allow a greater increase in floor area, applications submitted on or after 5th March 2024 are no longer restricted by floor space that can be converted under Class MA and there is no requirement for the building to be vacant for 3 months. This allowed for the conversion of the larger building to be converted under permitted development.

Site details and constraints

The site is located on the outskirts of the village of Driffield, near Cirencester.

Our role

MEP’s role was to submit and monitor the Prior Approval Notification. This included addressing the issues which would be considered by the LPA in the assessment of the Notification which in summary related to

Transport and highway impacts of the development.
Contamination risks on the site
Flooding risks on the site
Noise from commercial properties
Conservation area and use of whole or part of the ground floor
Amenity

Outcomes

Owing to the fact that the MEP team was able to demonstrate that the proposal would cause no harm to the matters relevant to the planning consideration of this case, the application moved smoothly through the system with positive statutory consultee responses.