THIRD EDITION is launched

Last week Bath Publishing and Keystone Law held another very successful event to launch the THIRD EDITION of A Practical Guide to Permitted Changes of Use. This took the form of a seminar, held at the Institution of Civil Engineers in Great George Street, Westminster. We had so many bookings that we had to hold the seminar twice, once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Even this was not enough to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend, and we could probably have filled the lecture theatre for a third time, if we had had the energy to repeat the seminar all over again.

The seminar was ably chaired once again by Brian Waters, the eminent architect and town planner and Chair of the National Planning Forum, who is also the editor and publisher of “Planning in London”. In addition to my presentation on the scope of Building Operations permitted by Class Q (residential conversion of agricultural buildings), Alistair Mills from Landmark Chambers, who is another Bath Publishing author, gave an entertaining account of recent case law, which was warmly appreciated by the audience.

The liveliest part of the event was the panel discussion, beginning with a brief survey of potential amendments to the PD rights for changes of use under Part 3 (especially under Class O – residential conversion of offices, which has become increasingly controversial), and continuing seamlessly into a wide-ranging Question and Answer session on Part 3 generally. Alistair Mills willingly participated as a member of the panel at short notice, and we were joined in the morning by my colleague Oliver Goodwin from Keystone Law’s planning law team, and in the afternoon by my colleagues David Evans and Andrew Darwin. The proceedings, both in the morning seminar and in the afternoon, went with a swing and I have never encountered such an enthusiastic and thoroughly engaged audience.

Those of you who now have your copy of the book will have seen that it is a substantial hardback volume, which is significantly larger than either of the two previous editions. Quite apart from the fact that those earlier editions are now thoroughly out-of-date (and so should no longer be relied upon), the Third Edition is even more of a ‘must have’ guide to all the rules and procedures that have to be complied with in achieving prior approval for developments under the permitted development rights in Part 3 of the Second Schedule to the GPDO. For what you get, the price of this book is an absolute bargain.

This reminds me to tell you that, if you have not yet bought the book, you have a last chance to avail yourself of the generous launch offer that Bath Publishing is making, which will give you not only the book itself, but also a free copy of the digital edition, all for just £60 + VAT. But hurry, this offer only lasts for a few more days - until 30th November. After that date the book will be available for £60 on its own, or you can then buy it as a print / digital bundle for £90 + VAT. So if you get your order in this week, you can save yourself over £30 on the print/digital bundle.

© MARTIN H GOODALL