The Court of Appeal will rule next week on a legal challenge aimed at quashing the government’s expansion of permitted development (PD) rights to create new homes, which was pushed through in the wake of the pandemic lockdown during the summer.

The court has scheduled October 5 to consider an appeal by environmental campaign group Rights: Community: Action (RCA) of last November’s High Court dismissal of its claim that new development rights were not properly considered or consulted on before being brought in.

In August the housing ministry - now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) - introduced new PD rights via statutory instrument. These allowed developers to demolish and rebuild properties as homes, to build new homes above existing homes and offices, and removed a raft of previously existing planning use classes.

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