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The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987

In England, the "Use Classes Order" is a legal framework that categorises different types of land and buildings based on their primary use. The order, officially known as the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, has been revised since its inception. Its primary purpose is to provide clarity and consistency in planning regulations, guiding local authorities and property owners in understanding and managing land use.

The Use Classes Order organises various uses into specific classes, each representing a distinct category of activities or functions. These classes include residential, commercial, industrial, and other specific uses like educational or recreational. The order helps streamline the planning process by allowing certain types of development or use changes within the same class without requiring explicit planning permission.

For example, if a property falls within the same use class, changing from one specific type of business to another may not necessitate formal planning approval. This flexibility encourages efficient use of existing buildings and reduces bureaucratic hurdles for minor changes.

However, it's crucial to note that recent amendments to the Use Classes Order, such as those introduced in 2020, have expanded the scope of permitted development rights and introduced a new "Commercial, Business, and Service" use class, consolidating various commercial uses. These changes aim to adapt to evolving patterns of retail and business activities, providing greater flexibility for property owners and businesses.

Overall, the Use Classes Order in England plays a central role in shaping the urban and rural landscape by influencing the planning and development processes, aiming to balance the needs of different sectors while promoting sustainable land use.

Categories

Class A1. Shops (a)for the retail sale of goods other than hot food

(b)as a post office,
(c)for the sale of tickets or as a travel agency,
(d)for the sale of sandwiches or other cold food for consumption off the premises,
(e)for hairdressing,
(f)for the direction of funerals,
(g)for the display of goods for sale,
(h)for the hiring out of domestic or personal goods or articles,
(i)for the reception of goods to be washed, cleaned or repaired, where the sale, display or service is to visiting members of the public

Class A2. Financial and professional services

(a) financial services, or
(b) professional services (other than health or medical services), or
(c) any other services (including use as a betting office) which it is appropriate to provide in a shopping area, where the services are provided principally to visiting members of the public.

Class A3. Food and drink

Use for the sale of food or drink for consumption on the premises or of hot food for consumption off the premises.

Class B1. Business (a)as an office other than a use within class A2 (financial and professional services),
(b) for research and development of products or processes, or
(c) for any industrial process, being a use which can be carried out in any residential area without detriment to the amenity of that area by reason of noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust or grit.

Class B2. General industrial

Use for the carrying on of an industrial process other than one falling within class B1 above or within classes B3 to B7 below.

Class B3. Special Industrial Group A

Use for any work registrable under the Alkali, etc. Works Regulation Act 1906(1)(a) and which is not included in any of classes B4 to B7 below.

Class B4. Special Industrial Group B

Use for any of the following processes, except where the process is ancillary to the getting,
dressing or treatment of minerals and is carried on in or adjacent to a quarry or mine:—
(a) smelting, calcining, sintering or reducing ores, minerals, concentrates or mattes;
(b) converting, refining, re-heating, annealing, hardening, melting, carburising, forging or
casting metals or alloys other than pressure die-casting;
(c) recovering metal from scrap or drosses or ashes;
(d) galvanizing;
(e) pickling or treating metal in acid;
(f) chromium plating.

Class B5. Special Industrial Group C

Use for any of the following processes, except where the process is ancillary to the getting,
dressing or treatment of minerals and is carried on in or adjacent to a quarry or mine:—
(a) burning bricks or pipes;
(b) burning lime or dolomite;
(c) producing zinc oxide, cement or alumina;
(d)foaming, crushing, screening or heating minerals or slag;
(e) processing pulverized fuel ash by heat;
(f) producing carbonate of lime or hydrated lime;
(g) producing inorganic pigments by calcining, roasting or grinding.

Class B6. Special Industrial Group D

(a) distilling, refining or blending oils (other than petroleum or petroleum products);
(b) producing or using cellulose or using other pressure sprayed metal finishes (other than in
vehicle repair workshops in connection with minor repairs, or the application of plastic powder by the use of fluidised bed and electrostatic spray techniques);
(c) boiling linseed oil or running gum;
(d) processes involving the use of hot pitch or bitumen (except the use of bitumen in the
manufacture of roofing felt at temperatures not exceeding 220°C and also the manufacture of
coated roadstone);
(e) stoving enamelled ware;
(f) producing aliphatic esters of the lower fatty acids, butyric acid, caramel, hexamine,
iodoform, napthols, resin products (excluding plastic moulding or extrusion operations and
producing plastic sheets, rods, tubes, filaments, fibres or optical components produced by casting, calendering, moulding, shaping or extrusion), salicylic acid or sulphonated organic compounds;
(g)producing rubber from scrap;
(h)chemical processes in which chlorphenols or chlorcresols are used as intermediates;
(i)manufacturing acetylene from calcium carbide;
(j)manufacturing, recovering or using pyridine or picolines, any methyl or ethyl amine or
acrylates.

Class B7. Special Industrial Group E

Use for carrying on any of the following industries, businesses or trades:—
Boiling blood, chitterlings, nettlings or soap. Boiling, burning, grinding or steaming bones.
Boiling or cleaning tripe. Breeding maggots from putrescible animal matter. Cleaning, adapting or treating animal hair. Curing fish.
Dealing in rags and bones (including receiving, storing, sorting or manipulating rags in, or likely to become in, an offensive condition, or any bones, rabbit skins, fat or putrescible animal products of a similar nature).Dressing or scraping fish skins. Drying skins. Making manure from bones, fish, offal, blood, spent hops, beans or other putrescible animal or
vegetable matter. Making or scraping guts. Manufacturing animal charcoal, blood albumen,
candles, catgut, glue, fish oil, size or feeding stuff for animals or poultry from meat, fish, blood,
bone, feathers, fat or animal offal either in an offensive condition or subjected to any process
causing noxious or injurious effluvia. Melting, refining or extracting fat or tallow. Preparing skins for working.

Class B8. Storage or distribution

Use for storage or as a distribution centre.

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