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The Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP

Secretary of State for Communities
and Local Government
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
By post and email to: eric.pickles@communities.gsi.gov.uk
27 October 2014
Dear Secretary of State,
Permi tted development business premises to fl ats
Utopia Village, Primrose Hill GPDO Test Case
The governments watering-down of planning rules to allow offices to be converted into multiple flats
is now threatening to destroy many vibrant, mixed use communities forever.
Although intended to turn under-utilised or derelict office space into homes to help alleviate Britains
housing shortage (particularly in areas requiring regeneration), in practice the reality is quite the
reverse. Up and down the country, and in particular in thriving mixed small-business/residential
communities, long-standing and start-up businesses alike are being ejected from their premises by
landlords eager to capitalise on more lucrative housing development opportunities coupled with very
limited planning restrictions.
The problem is particularly acute in the tech start-up sector, but has also hit the design, artistic and
fashion community hard. The irony is that these are among the sectors of our economy that the
government is singling out for extra encouragement and support for example, through the Tech City
UK venture launched by the Prime Minister in 2010. The effect of these planning changes is therefore
to take away with one hand what is being offered with the other. In J uly this year, research by the
Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors showed the availability of commercial property declining at the
fastest rate since their research began.
Furthermore, the social and economic impact on the affected areas is immediate, palpable and
irreversible. Mixed use communities, the age, cultural and enterprise diversity that they promote, and
the local businesses that they support, are being replaced by homogenous housing dormitories for
city workers or absentee property investors.
You have before you now one such case in point: Utopia Village in Primrose Hill. As a recovered
planning appeal that you have decided to determine yourself, you are no doubt aware that it has
become a test case for this very issue. If the developers appeal is allowed, office space at the heart
of a thriving community, with small businesses supporting in excess of 300 jobs (as well as local
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shops and cafes) are to be replaced by 53 flats. Does that sound like under-utilised office space
being turned into homes in an area requiring regeneration? Nothing could be further from the truth.
The economic and social impact of this opportunistic use of the new rules is something that you can,
and must, take into account in your decision on Utopia Village: as has been argued in submissions
put before you, it is part of the balancing exercise that must be read into the process. We, along with
other communities and businesses in the same position around the country, will be watching and
hoping that you will make the right decision.
Yours sincerely
[Signed]
Mary Portas
Lazzaro Pi etragnoli
Mayor of Camden
Joan Bakewell
Caroline Rush
Chief Executive
British Fashion Council
India Knight
Guy Levin
Executive Director
Coalition for a Digital Economy
Alan Bennett