Part 4 Class D: temporary flexible use of commercial premises

Class D of Part 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 permits a change of use of certain commercial premises, and the land in their curtilage, to a different qualifying use for a single continuous temporary period, provided the developer notifies the local planning authority before the use begins. The underlying lawful use does not change. At the end of the period the premises revert to it, and the temporary use leaves no planning footprint behind.

That makes Class D useful for exactly one thing: testing an idea in a unit without buying a permanent consent. It is poorly suited to anything you intend to keep, because the right can only be used once on a site and it builds no lawful use of its own.

This is distinct from Class B of the same Part, which permits the temporary use of land for any purpose for not more than 28 days in a calendar year, cut to 14 days for markets and for motor car and motorcycle racing. Class B is about events on land. Class D is about a building changing what it does for a sustained period.

What the temporary flexible use right permits

The right covers a change of use of the building together with any land within its curtilage, which matters for a yard, a forecourt or a car park that goes with the unit. Internal works to make the temporary use possible still need their own consents where relevant, and operational development such as a new shopfront, an extract flue or external plant is not permitted by Class D at all.

Nothing in the right displaces other regimes. Building Regulations apply to the change of use in the usual way. A premises licence, food business registration, a fire risk assessment and the landlord's consent under the lease all sit outside planning and are, in practice, the things that stop a meanwhile use more often than planning does.

Qualifying uses and excluded uses

The right works by reference to two lists: the uses a building must have been in to qualify, and the uses it may temporarily take. Both lists were written against the pre-2020 use classes and then rewritten when the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 was amended in September 2020, which replaced the old A and D classes with Class E and moved several uses into sui generis.

Read the lists from the current consolidated text of the Order rather than from any summary, including this one. The practical point is that the right only ever covered commercial, business and service type uses and a defined set of sui generis uses, and it has never extended to residential use, to a drinking establishment, to hot food takeaways in every direction, or to anything requiring an environmental permit.

The exclusions are easier to state. Class D does not apply to a listed building or a scheduled monument, and it does not apply where the land forms part of a safety hazard area or a military explosives storage area. It also cannot be used on a site that has already had the benefit of a flexible use under the same Class, which is the limitation most people discover too late.

The permitted period and how it is counted

The period is a single continuous one, beginning on the date the building starts to be used for the flexible use. You cannot split it into two bites, pause it and resume, or run two different flexible uses consecutively to double the time available.

The maximum was set at two years when the Order was made in 2015 and was extended when the use classes were rewritten in 2020. Because every other decision turns on that figure, take it from the current consolidated Order on legislation.gov.uk rather than from a secondary source, and confirm it with the authority in the notification correspondence.

Count carefully from the notified start date. Where a fit-out overruns, the clock still begins when the use begins, so notifying a start date and then opening six weeks later wastes six weeks of a finite right.

The notification required before starting

Notification is a condition of the right, not a courtesy. Before beginning the flexible use the developer must notify the local planning authority of the date the site will begin to be used for the flexible use and which of the permitted uses it will be.

Keep it short and keep the proof:

1. Write to the planning department, addressed to the duty or enforcement team, identifying the premises by full address and, where possible, the unit reference used in previous permissions.
2. State the previous lawful use and the basis on which you say it is lawful.
3. State the flexible use and the start date.
4. Attach a location plan with the curtilage outlined.
5. Ask for written acknowledgement and keep it with the lease.

Many authorities log these as a notification rather than an application and charge no fee, though some have introduced a fee for a confirmation letter. There is no approval to wait for, which is the attraction. There is also no certificate confirming you qualified, which is the risk.

Returning to the previous lawful use

At the end of the period the premises may be used again for the previous lawful use without any further permission, because that use was never lost. Keeping the evidence of what it was is therefore the single most important piece of housekeeping, for the same reason that Class Q applicants spend so much effort proving the building was in agricultural use.

Hold a file containing the planning history, rating records, lease and tenancy documents, photographs of the unit as it was, and any certificate of lawfulness already obtained. Where the previous use was itself uncertain, resolve that before relying on Class D, because a right that depends on a previous lawful use is worthless if the previous use cannot be proved.

If you want to keep the temporary use permanently, you need a full change of use application, and the temporary period gives you something valuable for it: operating evidence. Real delivery numbers, real customer counts, real opening hours and a noise history are far better material than projections, and they also help where a permanent application needs vacancy or continuous-use evidence of the kind that governs Class MA vacancy and continuous use conditions.

Listed buildings and designated land exclusions

Listed buildings and scheduled monuments are outside the right altogether. Beyond that, check two things before relying on Class D in a designated area. First, whether any exclusions for designated land appear in the current text of the Class. Second, whether the authority has made an Article 4 direction removing or restricting permitted development rights in the area, which is increasingly common in town centres and in conservation areas.

Works to a shopfront in a conservation area may also need planning permission or advertisement consent in their own right, and signage is the thing most likely to attract an enforcement visit during a meanwhile use.

Using the right to test a business idea

Used deliberately, Class D is a good way to de-risk a lease. Take the unit, notify, trade for the permitted period, and decide with real numbers whether to apply for permanent consent.

Three things make that work. Negotiate a lease break that aligns with the end of the flexible period. Keep a monthly record of trading patterns, deliveries and complaints from day one, because you will need it for the permanent application. And start the permanent application at least nine months before the period ends, allowing for a determination period, a possible refusal and an appeal.

A Planning Statement that sets the permanent use against the development plan and uses the operating record as evidence is the document that converts a meanwhile use into a settled one. PlanScope can draft that and the other report types a change of use needs from your answers about the premises. Reports are AI-assisted drafts that should be reviewed before submission, and PlanScope does not guarantee planning approval.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.