Planning

Use Classes Order: what Class E means in practice

England’s Use Classes Order put shops, offices, cafés and many indoor leisure uses into one Class E. Here is what that flexibility means for owners and occupiers — and where old planning conditions still bite.

The Government changed the Use Classes Order for land in England so that many everyday commercial uses sit in one class: Commercial, Business and Service (Class E). The aim was a more agile planning framework, particularly for high streets that need to change use without a full planning application each time.

The provisions took effect on 1 September 2020. Buildings that were in the former shop, office or indoor sport uses on that date are generally treated as Class E unless a condition or article 4 direction says otherwise.

Principal provisions

Former Class A (retail, food and drink), Class B1 and much of Class D (leisure) were revoked. The new Class E covers, among other things:

  • Retail (former A1)
  • Café and restaurant (former A3)
  • Financial and professional services, other than health (former A2)
  • Other services appropriate to a commercial locality (former A2)
  • Indoor sport and recreation (former D2)
  • Medical or health services mainly to visiting members of the public (former D1)
  • Crèche, day nursery or day centre, not residential and mainly for visitors (former D1)
  • Office (former B1a)
  • Research and development (former B1b)
  • Light industrial processes that can sit in a residential area without harming amenity (former B1c)

The explanatory memorandum confirms a building in Class E may be used for a number of those purposes concurrently or at different times of day. In principle, a unit can move between those uses without a change-of-use application.

What sits outside Class E

  • Drinking establishments (former A4) and hot-food takeaways (former A5) are sui generis.
  • Cinemas, bingo halls and live music venues also moved from D2 into sui generis, so locally important venues and uses that can affect amenity still need proper consideration.
  • Shops below 280 sq m that are more than 1,000 metres from another shop can fall into Class F.2 as a “local shop”.
  • Learning and other non-residential institutions (former D1) now sit in Class F.1.

Provisions and limitations

There is no unit-size cap of the kind that used to attach to some temporary rights. A premises could trade as a shop by day and a restaurant or gym in the evening, provided the planning history allows it.

Existing conditions still matter. A permission that says the unit may be used only as a restaurant or only as a gym, and for no other purpose, can remove the flexibility that Class E would otherwise give. Each case needs a look at the permission and any later variations.

Some councils, particularly in Greater London, have considered Article 4 directions to restrict parts of the new order. That needs checking locally before you spend money on a fit-out.

If you are taking a lease, assigning, or changing how you occupy space in Essex or East London, we can review the planning position with you. Call 020 8501 3000.