Baroness Andrews has put forward the The Victorian Society’s amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill to require planning permission for demolishing buildings. Shockingly most buildings can currently be demolished without planning permission if they are not listed or in a conservation area.
Image: Screenshot of Baroness Andrews’s amendment to Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill.
Baroness Andrews has put forward the The Victorian Society’s amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill to require planning permission for demolishing buildings. Shockingly most buildings can currently be demolished without planning permission if they are not listed or in a conservation area. Worse, there is no requirement that anything be built on the site once demolition has taken place. The Society argues that this is terrible for heritage and the climate emergency and should now end.
Joe O’Donnell, The Victorian Society Director said: ‘In the middle of both climate and housing emergencies we must focus on re-using our existing buildings rather than allowing them to be demolished without local communities having any say on what buildings stay or go. The Victorian Society regularly sees high quality historic buildings demolished through permitted development rights. Worse, there is no requirement for anything to even be built the site afterwards. The Government’s perverse tax regime of 0% VAT on demolition and rebuild vs 20% VAT on repair and maintenance, further stacks the odds in favour of existing buildings being swept away. We hope the Government will take this opportunity to support our amendment if it is serious about meeting its own legally binding net zero target we need to end the constant cycle of demolition and rebuild as soon as possible.’
According to the Green Building Council ‘approximately 40% of the UK’s emissions are attributable to the built environment, while construction, demolition, and excavation activities generate approximately 60% of the UK’s waste. When a building is demolished and a new one is put in its place, the emissions locked into the original building are wasted and the new building’s material manufacturing and construction processes create new emissions. Even energy efficient buildings can take decades to save more operational energy emissions than were created in the construction process up to 51% of a residential building’s carbon is emitted before the building is operational (and up to 35% for an office building)’.
Baroness Andrews has also submitted a second, more limited, amendment only requiring planning permission to demolish locally listed assets. These are heritage structures which, although not nationally listed, are considered important by local councils. The Government recently invested £1.5 million on local lists yet the structures on these list can be demolished without planning permission if outside a conservation area. Permitted development rights for demolition have previous been removed for pubs, theatres and music venues.
The Levelling Up Bill is currently in the Committee Stage in the House of Lords. The next sitting is on the 6th March. But the precise date that the amendment will be debated is not yet clear.
The two amendments were published on the Bills publications page on the 27th February 2023. See HL Bill 84-III(b) Amendments for Committee (Supplementary to the Third Marshalled List) https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3155/publications
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What happens after committee stage?
If the Bill has been amended it is reprinted with all the agreed amendments. At the end of committee stage, the Bill moves to report stage for further scrutiny.
