Hart District Council forced to rethink office redevelopment

Hart District Council must reconsider a planning permission application to turn a Fleet office block into flats. Development company LW Zenith has been seeking permission to turn Zenith House, Fleet, into 34 residential flats. For this they need a change of use from office development to residential. However, in February this year a planning inspector refused to recommend the plan. She found that the proposed development is too complicated to be dealt with by the light touch permitted development rules. Part of this was related to the fact that 11 of the proposed flats needed to have windows installed to provide natural light to all habitable rooms. Planning permission had already been granted for this. The developers challenged the decision, and the case went to trial at the High Court in London earlier this month. Giving judgment today (21 December), High Court Judge, Judge Jarman KC, found in favour of the developers. During the hearing, lawyers for the developers argued that the fact that planning permission had been granted for the windows meant that “operational development has been considered and found acceptable by the authority.” The judge agreed and quashed the refusal of permission and ruled that the council should reconsider the application. The King (LW Zenith Limited) v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities v Hart District Council Planning Court (Judge Jarman KC), 21 December 2022