When former communities secretary Eric Pickles announced in 2013 the relaxation of rules governing the conversion of offices and shops into homes, he presented it as an opportunity to “regenerate town centres” and provide “badly needed homes”. But it wasn’t seen as a major shift: the government’s own analysis suggested that the creation of this new permitted development right, which effectively allowed developers to bypass the planning system, would see just 140 applications per year.

Six years later, getting on for 100,000 homes have been created through this brand-new development route – all approved without getting close to a planning committee. For critics, the inevitable result has been schemes like Terminus House in Harlow (pictured) – a monolithic 1960s office block now containing 222 affordable flats for rent over its 11 storeys, where the council has placed people in housing need. One local councillor has described the scheme, which has no outdoor space for children to play and has been linked by police to a 45% spike in local crime, as “human warehousing”, with some residents telling the BBC it was “a nightmare” to live in. Tenants include formerly homeless families as well as ex-offenders, with more than 10 families living in studio flats. 

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