A Government plan to extend the right of developers to turn offices into homes without planning permission ‘flies in the face of localism’, town hall leaders have warned.

The admonition follows a Local Government Association (LGA) survey into the impact of permitted development rights, introduced by the Department for Communities and Local Government in 2013, which allows business premises to be converted for residential use.

This found a range of detrimental effects from the planning changes, with around two-in-five of more than 100 council respondents reporting a reduction of local office space, compared with only one-in-five who said it had returned empty offices back to use.