F1 and F2: which community uses sit where
The 2020 amendment split the old institutional and assembly classes into F1 and F2. Which side a use lands on decides whether a change needs permission and which policies protect it.
The F1 F2 use class split was created by the 2020 amendment to the Use Classes Order 1987, and it matters because the two classes are protected differently and moving between them is development. F1 covers learning and non-residential institutions. F2 covers local community uses. A church hall and a village shop are both community facilities in ordinary speech, and they sit in different classes with different consequences.
For anyone taking a lease on a hall, a former school or a small shop, the class the building currently sits in is the first question, not the last.
What the 2020 amendment created
Before September 2020 most of this ground was covered by two broad classes, one for non-residential institutions and one for assembly and leisure. The amendment broke both up. Much of the old institutional class moved into the wide commercial class E, including medical and health services and crèches and day nurseries. Indoor sport and fitness went into class E as well.
What was left, plus some new material, became F1 and F2. At the same time a group of uses were pushed out of the class system altogether and became sui generis, including pubs and drinking establishments, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls and live music venues.
That last change is the one people miss. A use that is sui generis has no class, so every change into or out of it requires planning permission, and the local plan policies protecting community facilities often apply to it too.
Uses that fall into F1
F1 is described as learning and non-residential institutions, and it covers a defined list rather than anything educational in spirit.
- Provision of education.
- Display of works of art, otherwise than for sale or hire.
- Museums.
- Public libraries and public reading rooms.
- Public halls and exhibition halls.
- Public worship and religious instruction, including a church hall or similar building used with a place of worship.
- Law courts.
Two boundaries cause arguments. A gallery that sells the work it displays is not within the art display description, because that description excludes sale and hire, and a commercial gallery generally sits in class E instead. And "provision of education" covers a school or college, but a private tutoring business operating from a shop unit will often be treated as a class E service rather than F1, depending on how it functions.
A place of worship in a former retail unit is a very common proposal, and the change from class E into F1 requires planning permission. The supporting case usually turns on parking, hours, noise and the loss of a commercial frontage, so a Transport Statement addressing peak congregation times does more work than anything else in the pack.
Uses that fall into F2
F2 is the local community class and it holds four things: a small local shop, a hall or meeting place for the principal use of the local community, an area or place for outdoor sport or recreation, and an indoor or outdoor swimming pool or skating rink.
The outdoor sport description excludes uses involving motorised vehicles or firearms, so a motocross track or a shooting ground is not within F2.
The community hall description turns on who the hall is principally for. A village hall run for local hire is F2(b). A commercial event venue that happens to be in a village is not, and the distinction is evidential: bookings, pricing, governance and how the building is advertised.
The local shop floorspace threshold in F2
The small shop description in F2 carries two tests, and both have to be satisfied at the time the use begins.
The shop must sell mostly essential goods, including food, and its net internal area must not exceed 280 square metres. And there must be no other such facility within 1,000 metres of the shop's location.
That second test does the real work in practice. It means the same unit can be an F2 shop in one village and a class E shop in a suburb with a parade already serving it, and it means the class of an existing shop can turn on what opened nearby after it did. Measure it, and record the measurement and the date, because this is exactly the sort of question that surfaces years later.
Net internal area is not gross. Stock rooms, staff areas and the parts excluded from net internal area under the ordinary measuring conventions affect the answer, so on a unit near the threshold get it measured properly rather than taken from an agent's particulars.
Movements between F1, F2 and class E
Within a single class, a change of use is generally not development at all, so a museum can become a public library without permission because both sit in F1. Across classes it is different.
| Change | Position |
|---|---|
| Within F1, or within F2 | Generally not development, no permission needed |
| F1 to F2, or F2 to F1 | A change between classes, so permission is normally required |
| F1 or F2 to class E | A change between classes, and often resisted by community facility policies |
| Class E to F1 or F2 | A change between classes, so check the current position before committing |
| Into or out of a sui generis use | Always requires permission |
Permitted development rights sometimes allow particular movements between these classes, and that part of the General Permitted Development Order is amended more often than almost any other. Check the current text of Part 3 of Schedule 2 rather than relying on a summary, including this table.
Why the split matters for protection policies
Local plans protect community facilities, and the policies are usually written by reference to the class or to the function. A policy requiring marketing evidence and a viability case before a community facility can be lost will commonly bite on an F1 or F2 use and not on a class E one.
There is a separate route through assets of community value under the Localism Act 2011, which gives a community interest group a moratorium in which to prepare a bid when a listed asset is to be sold. Listing does not prevent a change of use in itself, but it is a material consideration and it frequently changes the commercial timetable.
Where the proposal is the loss of a facility, expect to need marketing evidence over a defined period at a realistic rent, and a Statement of Community Involvement recording what local groups were told and what they said.
Checking the position before a lease is signed
The lawful use of a building is a matter of planning history and fact, not of what the last occupier called it.
- Get the planning history for the address from the council's online register, including any conditions restricting the use.
- Check for a condition removing permitted development rights or tying the use to a named occupier.
- Check whether an Article 4 direction applies in the area.
- Establish when the current use began and what it actually involves, with evidence.
- Where anything is unclear, apply for a lawful development certificate under section 191 or 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. That is the only formal way to confirm that a use is lawful.
- Only then negotiate the lease terms and any conditionality.
This is general guidance rather than legal advice, and use class questions turn on the facts of the particular building, so 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. A Planning Statement that sets out the existing lawful use and the evidence for it is the document most change of use applications live or die on.
Frequently asked questions
Is a church hall F1 or F2?
A hall used in connection with public worship or religious instruction generally falls within F1, alongside the place of worship itself. A hall run principally as a local community meeting place, hired out to local groups, falls within F2. The distinction turns on how the building is actually used and governed rather than on who owns it.
What is the 280 square metre rule for shops?
A shop selling mostly essential goods, including food, falls within F2 where its net internal area does not exceed 280 square metres and there is no other such facility within 1,000 metres. Both tests apply when the use begins. Above the area threshold, or with another shop nearby, the unit sits in class E instead.
Do I need permission to change a library into a community hall?
A public library sits in F1 and a community meeting hall sits in F2, so the change crosses classes and permission is normally required unless a permitted development right covers it. Check the current Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order, because rights affecting these classes are amended frequently.
Are pubs and cinemas in F1 or F2?
Neither. The 2020 amendment made pubs and other drinking establishments, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls and live music venues sui generis, meaning they sit outside the class system. Every change into or out of those uses needs planning permission, and community facility policies in the local plan often apply to them as well.
Does listing a building as an asset of community value stop a change of use?
Not by itself. Listing under the Localism Act 2011 triggers a moratorium period in which a community interest group can prepare a bid when the asset is to be sold. It is a material consideration in a planning decision rather than a prohibition, but it commonly changes the commercial timetable for a disposal.
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.