Hi, my partner and I are wanting to convert an old church but planning permission is for 'community and business use only'. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
Hi You would need to submit a planning application for a change of use to residential accomodation. Before granting planning permission for a change of use to residential for a church conversion, the planning department will want to ensure that there is no prospect in the church being needed for the current use class classification and as such, it is likley that you will need to gather evidence in this regard.
A lot of councils will have specific policies contained within their Local Plan or Unitary Development Plan (dependent on location) which they utilise to control development in the council's area on the protection of community facilities and the loss of business use space.
You do not say whether the building is currently in use, or if it is not, how long it has been empty for? A lot of council's will require specific marketing information which demonstrates that the existing use is no longer viable.
I would also begin to think about demonstrating why the existing planning use of the building is no longer needed...for example, there may be a number of other community halls in the locality, and as such your site is therefore not required either in the short term or long term. Also, is the site in a rural or urban location?
Your prospects of being successful with this kind of planning applciation are very much dependent on being able to put together a very robust justification, with supporting evidence where neccesary which fully demonstrates why a change of use should be granted.
If you can provide a but more informaiton then I'll try and give you a bit more planning advice on your route forward to get you started.
