Class F1 and F2: what the local community classes cover
The 2020 reforms split the old D1 and D2 classes. What stayed community, what moved into Class E, and why a 280 square metre shop can be in two different classes.
Classes F1 and F2 are where the 2020 use class reforms put the things government decided a community should not lose without a planning decision. F1 is learning and non-residential institutions. F2 is local community. Neither sits inside Class E, so none of the free movement between shop, office, restaurant and gym applies to them.
For a commercial occupier that cuts both ways. Your building is protected, which limits what you can do with it. And a competitor cannot open a nursery or a gym in a unit that is currently a community hall without applying.
Where D1 and D2 went
The old classes were broken up and their contents sent to three destinations.
Into Class E went medical and health services, creches, day nurseries and day centres, and indoor sport, recreation and fitness provided principally to visiting members of the public. Those uses gained full Class E flexibility.
Into Class F1 went education, the display of works of art other than for sale or hire, museums, public libraries and public reading rooms, public halls and exhibition halls, use for or in connection with public worship or religious instruction, and law courts.
Into Class F2 went small essential shops meeting two tests, halls or meeting places for the principal use of the local community, areas or places for outdoor sport or recreation not involving motorised vehicles or firearms, and indoor or outdoor swimming pools and skating rinks.
And out into sui generis went cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls and live music venues, joining theatres, pubs and hot food takeaways.
The shape of that split is deliberate. Uses with a commercial market went into E. Uses a community relies on stayed out of it.
What Class F1 covers in practice
F1 is a broad church, and the breadth is the point.
A primary school, a further education college, a private tutoring centre, a Sunday school, a museum, a parish library, a village exhibition hall and a mosque, church or synagogue are all F1 uses. So is a magistrates' court.
The practical consequence for an occupier is that movement between those purposes is not development at all. A redundant church hall can become a museum. A library can become an exhibition hall. A disused school can become a place of worship. In each case the use change itself requires no application, because article 3(1) of the Use Classes Order provides that using a building for another purpose of the same class is not development.
Three cautions attach to that. Physical alterations still need permission where they are development in their own right. Conditions on the existing permission may restrict the use to a named purpose, which overrides the class flexibility. And intensification can amount to a material change of use even inside a class, which is the argument set out in intensification: when doing more of the same needs consent.
That last point matters most to places of worship. A hall used weekly by 40 people that becomes a centre used daily by 300, with amplified sound and coach parking, is a different proposition on the ground even if the F1 label has not changed.
What Class F2 covers
F2 has four limbs, and they sit awkwardly together because they were assembled from different sources.
F2(b) is the community hall limb: a hall or meeting place for the principal use of the local community. Village halls, scout huts, community centres.
F2(c) covers outdoor sport and recreation, excluding motorised vehicles and firearms. Playing fields, tennis courts, bowling greens.
F2(d) covers swimming pools and skating rinks, indoor or outdoor. This one overlaps uncomfortably with Class E(d), which covers indoor sport, recreation and fitness provided principally to visiting members of the public. A local authority pool looks like F2(d). A private gym with a pool looks like E(d). Officers resolve it by looking at who the facility serves, and there is honest uncertainty in the middle.
F2(a) is the shop limb, and it has the sharpest edges.
The two tests inside F2(a)
For a shop to sit in F2(a) it must satisfy both of these:
- It is no larger than 280 square metres, and it sells mostly essential goods, including food.
- There is no other such facility within 1000 metres.
Fail either and the shop is Class E(a) instead. That produces the odd result that two identical village shops can sit in different use classes because one has a second shop 800 metres away and the other does not.
The difference is substantial. An E(a) shop can become an office, a clinic, a nursery or a gym without an application. An F2(a) shop cannot become any of them without planning permission, and the council is likely to resist.
Two practical points. Measure the floorspace properly, because the figure is the area used for the purpose rather than the gross external area, and a stockroom and a flat above change the arithmetic. And apply the 1000 metre test as at the date the use began, then accept that the position if a competitor opens later is arguable rather than settled.
Where a shop sits below flats and the conversion of the upper floors is in play, the interaction is covered in retail to residential above a shop.
Movement between these classes
The rule is straightforward and the exceptions are narrow.
Within F1, or within F2, movement is not development. Between F1 and F2, or from either into Class E or a sui generis use, permission is needed unless a class in Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO permits the change. Part 3 contains provisions dealing with state-funded schools and registered nurseries that touch these classes, so read Part 3 in force on the day rather than relying on a summary.
There is no general permitted right to convert a community building to housing. Applications to do so are decided on their merits against local plan policy, and the policy is usually protective.
Why councils resist a loss from F1 or F2
Because the 2020 reforms were designed to make them resist it. Placing community uses outside Class E means each loss reaches a planning officer, and most local plans carry a community facilities policy requiring the applicant to demonstrate the facility is surplus.
National policy supports retaining and improving community facilities. Verify the current wording in the National Planning Policy Framework, which was re-issued on 17 August 2026 and is now organised by policy code rather than paragraph number, and in the adopted local plan for the area.
The other regime to check is the asset of community value list under the Localism Act 2011. A listed building attracts a moratorium on disposal and the listing is a material consideration in the planning decision.
Evidence for a change out of a community use
Expect to produce five things, and expect the officer to test each.
A marketing exercise of the length the local policy specifies, at a price supported by a valuation, with the particulars and the enquiry log. Accounts demonstrating that the facility is not viable under any reasonable operating model, not merely that the current operator has lost interest. An assessment of alternative provision within a reasonable walking distance, with capacity rather than just a list of buildings. Evidence of engagement with existing users, which sits naturally in a Statement of Community Involvement. And an assessment of the effect on local social infrastructure, which is what a Social Infrastructure Assessment is for.
The application that fails is the one that marketed at a residential development value rather than a community use value. Officers compare the asking price with the trading position, and a mismatch reads as a marketing exercise designed to fail.
Where the use classification itself is the question, a Planning Statement setting out the lawful use, the class analysis and the policy context is the document that carries it. A related boundary problem, where a single building sits between two classes, is worked through in care homes and supported housing: C2 or C3.
This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Where did use classes D1 and D2 go?
The 2020 amendments revoked them and redistributed their contents. Medical and health uses, creches, day nurseries, day centres and indoor sport and fitness went into Class E. Education, museums, libraries, public halls, places of worship and law courts went into Class F1. Community halls, small essential shops, outdoor sport and pools went into Class F2. Cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls and dance halls became sui generis.
What makes a shop Class F2(a) rather than Class E(a)?
Two tests, both of which must be met. The shop must be no larger than 280 square metres and must sell mostly essential goods including food, and there must be no other such facility within 1000 metres. A shop that fails either test sits in Class E(a) instead, with all the flexibility that class carries.
Can a village hall become a gym without planning permission?
No. A hall or meeting place for the principal use of the local community sits in Class F2(b), and an indoor fitness use sits in Class E(d). Moving between different classes is a material change of use needing permission unless a class in Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO permits it. Read Part 3 rather than assuming.
Does a school need permission to open a museum in part of its building?
Education and use as a museum both sit within Class F1, and article 3(1) of the Use Classes Order provides that moving between purposes within the same class is not development. So the change of use itself is not the issue. Physical works, intensification of the use, and any conditions on the existing permission all still need checking.
What evidence does a council want before allowing the loss of a community use?
Typically a marketing exercise of a stated length at a price supported by valuation evidence, accounts showing the facility is not viable under any reasonable operating model, an assessment of alternative provision within a reasonable distance, and evidence of engagement with users. Local plan policies set the specifics, so read the adopted policy before starting.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.