Moving within Class E or into sui generis use

Inside Class E you can move freely. A shop can become a cafe, an office, a gym, a nursery or a clinic without any planning application, because a change of use within the same class is not development under section 55(2)(f) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Step outside Class E into a sui generis use and you need full planning permission. The Class E change or sui generis question is therefore a cliff edge rather than a slope, and the uses sitting on the wrong side of it are specific, named and easy to check.

What Class E covers after the 2020 amendment

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 collapsed the old A1, A2, A3, B1, D1 and D2 categories into a single commercial, business and service class with effect from 1 September 2020. Class E has seven limbs.

Two features of the drafting matter in practice. Several limbs require the service to be provided principally to visiting members of the public, so a business operating by appointment only, or entirely online from the premises, may sit in E(c) or E(g) rather than where the occupier assumes. And E(g)(iii) covers light industrial processes only where they could be carried out in a residential area without harming amenity, which is a qualitative test rather than a floorspace one.

Movements that need no permission

Anything from one Class E limb to another. A former bank in E(c) becoming a restaurant in E(b). A shop in E(a) becoming a physiotherapy clinic in E(e). An office in E(g)(i) becoming a day nursery in E(f).

Three caveats attach to that freedom, and each of them catches real occupiers.

Conditions override it. A permission granted before 2020 often restricts the use to a named former class, or even to a named activity, usually because of parking, servicing or noise. A condition limiting use to A1 retail still bites, and the correct route is an application under section 73 to vary it rather than a bare assertion that Class E now applies. The difference between a condition and a private restriction running with the land is set out in our comparison of a restrictive covenant and a planning condition.

Operational development is separate. Moving within Class E deals with the use only. New shopfronts, extract ducts, flues, plant enclosures, air conditioning units and signage are building operations or advertisements, each needing its own consent.

And the physical consequences of the new use are still regulated. A restaurant moving into a former office needs extraction, and the duct route and termination are a planning matter in their own right, so a Ventilation and Extraction Statement will be wanted even though the change of use itself is free. Parking and servicing can also change materially, which is where a short Transport Statement earns its place.

Uses that fall outside Class E entirely

Article 3(6) of the Use Classes Order excludes a list of named uses from all classes. Those are sui generis, meaning of their own kind. The 2020 amendment moved several uses out of the old A and D classes and into that category, which is where most of the confusion now sits.

The commonly encountered ones are hot food takeaways, drinking establishments, drinking establishments with expanded food provision, nightclubs, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls, live music venues, theatres, casinos, betting offices, launderettes, amusement arcades, petrol filling stations, taxi businesses, hostels, scrap yards, and the hire, sale or display of motor vehicles.

Note the pattern. Most of the evening and late-night economy is sui generis, and most of what used to be D2 assembly and leisure is too. A gym is in E(d). A nightclub in the identical unit is sui generis. The planning consequence of that difference is enormous, and the physical difference between the two uses can be a sound system and a bar.

Hot food, drink and entertainment

Hot food takeaway is the trap that comes up most often. A cafe selling hot food for consumption on the premises is E(b). The same business selling hot food principally for consumption off the premises is a sui generis hot food takeaway. Where the split is close to even, the question is what the use is principally, and a cafe that derives most of its trade from collection and delivery has changed use whatever the signage says.

Drinking establishments work the same way. A pub is sui generis. A pub that serves substantial food may be a drinking establishment with expanded food provision, which is also sui generis but a different sui generis use. And a venue that is primarily a restaurant with a bar is E(b).

A small number of permitted changes out of named sui generis uses do exist in Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015, so check Part 3 for your specific starting use rather than assuming there is nothing. What you will not find is a general right to move from sui generis into Class E. The detail of that asymmetry is covered in our piece on sui generis use or a use inside Class E.

Evidence of the lawful existing use

Every one of these questions begins with the lawful use, not the last occupier's trade. Assemble four things before you advise or commit.

1. The planning history: every permission for the unit, with conditions, and any lawful development certificate.
2. Evidence of actual use over time: rates records, leases, dated photographs, trading accounts, licensing records.
3. The floor layout at the relevant date, because a unit subdivided since the last permission may have become two planning units.
4. Any Article 4 direction over the area, which can withdraw permitted changes in Part 3.

Where the lawful use is unclear and money turns on it, a lawful development certificate under section 191 of the 1990 Act is the formal answer. It takes time and a fee, and it is cheaper than a lease signed on a wrong assumption.

Illustrative example: a unit last used as a bank, with a 2009 permission conditioned to A2 financial and professional services only. The incoming tenant wants a bakery with four tables, selling mostly to take away. Two problems: the condition restricts the use to the old A2 class, and the proposed use is principally hot food takeaway rather than E(b), so it is sui generis. The route is a full application for change of use with a section 73 element or a fresh permission, plus extraction details. The scenario is illustrative.

Before you sign a lease

Four checks, in this order. Confirm the lawful use from the planning history rather than the agent's particulars. Read every condition on every permission for the unit, including ones that look spent. Decide which limb of Class E your use falls in, or whether it is sui generis, and write the reasoning down. And identify the operational development you will need, because that is usually where the programme risk sits rather than in the use class.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a commercial change of use is likely to need.

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.