Prior approval or a full application for Class MA

Class MA prior approval vs planning application comes down to what you are willing to give up. The prior approval route under Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 lets a Class E building become dwellings without the council assessing the principle, the design or the housing mix, and without any affordable housing contribution. In exchange you accept a fixed set of qualifying conditions, a short list of matters the council can still refuse on, and a building you cannot meaningfully alter externally.

A full application reverses all of that. Nothing is fixed, everything is assessed.

What prior approval actually tests

The council cannot refuse a Class MA application because it thinks the flats are poor, the street is unsuitable or the town has enough housing. It can only refuse on the matters the Order lists:

• transport impacts, particularly safe site access
• contamination risk
• flooding risk
• noise from commercial premises affecting the intended occupiers, usually evidenced by a Noise Impact Assessment
• where the building is in a conservation area and the ground floor is changing use, the effect on the character or sustainability of that conservation area
• the effect on intended occupiers of introducing residential use into an area important for general or heavy industry, waste management or storage and distribution
• the provision of adequate natural light in all habitable rooms
• fire safety, where the building is tall enough for it to apply

Natural light is the test that refuses the most applications. A deep plan office floorplate converted to flats produces internal bedrooms and rooms lit only by a light well, and the Order requires adequate natural light in all habitable rooms. Our note on the use history and natural light tests covers how that is assessed.

Note what is absent. No design review, no density policy, no unit mix requirement, no amenity space requirement, no affordable housing.

The qualifying conditions

Before any of that applies, the building has to qualify.

The use history condition requires the building to have been in Class E use, or a use falling within Class E, for a continuous period before the application date. A building that moved into Class E recently, or that has been vacant since before Class E existed, needs the history checking carefully against the planning record.

There is also a condition about vacancy immediately before the application. That condition and the floorspace limit have both been amended since Class MA was introduced, most visibly by the removal of the 1,500 m² cap in 2024, which is covered in our note on Class MA after the removal of the floorspace cap. Read the current text of Class MA on legislation.gov.uk before relying on either condition, because the wording has moved more than once.

The right does not apply at all to listed buildings or land within their curtilage, to scheduled monuments, to sites of special scientific interest, or to safety hazard and military explosives storage areas. An Article 4 direction can also remove it locally, and many authorities have made directions covering town centres and employment areas.

A condition attached to the class requires the new dwellings to meet the nationally described space standard, so the internal areas are not negotiable even though the design is not assessed.

Where a full application gives more

The full application route buys flexibility, and on some buildings that flexibility is the difference between a scheme and no scheme.

The external alterations point decides many schemes. A 1970s office with a curtain wall makes poor flats without new windows, balconies or a new entrance, and none of that is permitted under Class MA. Applicants sometimes run a prior approval for the change of use alongside a planning application for the external works, which works but introduces sequencing risk if the second application fails.

Design quality is the other honest consideration. A building converted under prior approval to the minimum standard is harder to let and harder to sell, and the saving on affordable housing contributions can be eaten by a weaker end product. That is a commercial judgement rather than a planning one, but it belongs in the decision.

Article 4 directions

An Article 4 direction removes a permitted development right in a defined area, and Class MA has attracted a great many of them, particularly in town centres and designated employment areas.

Check the council's Article 4 register and its mapping before doing anything else. A direction can cover a single street, a defined centre or an entire employment allocation, and the boundary is what matters, not the character of the area. National policy sets a test for when such a direction may be made, and the council's justification is published with the direction itself.

Money

The financial comparison is not as one-sided as it looks.

Community Infrastructure Levy is payable on both routes where the council charges it, though the conversion of an existing building in lawful use for at least six months of the preceding three years can attract relief for the retained floorspace. Under the prior approval route there is no planning permission for the liability to attach to, so a notice of chargeable development is served before work starts, and missing that step removes the ability to claim exemptions or instalments.

Section 106 obligations arise on the full application route and not on prior approval. That is the main saving, and on a larger building it is substantial.

Fees differ, and both change on 1 April with indexation, so check the current schedule rather than a figure from an old appraisal.

Choosing the route

Work through it in this order:

1. Check for an Article 4 direction. If one applies, the decision is made for you.
2. Check the exclusions: listed, scheduled, SSSI, hazard areas.
3. Check the use history and vacancy conditions against the current text of the Order and against the planning record for the building.
4. Test natural light on the actual floorplate, early, with a proper assessment rather than an assumption.
5. Decide whether the scheme works without external alterations. If it does not, price the full application route.
6. Compare the affordable housing exposure on a full application against the value lost from a compromised layout under prior approval.

One honest uncertainty: Class MA has been amended repeatedly since 2021 and further change is possible. A scheme being appraised on today's wording should be checked against the Order at the point of application, not at the point of purchase.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which supporting documents each route needs, browse the 66 report types by category, or compare the two main statements in our note on Planning Statement or Design and Access Statement.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do 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.