Section 75: Exemption by reference to office floor space, Town and Country Planning Act 1971

Notwithstanding anything in section 74 of this Act, an office development permit shall not be required for the purposes of an application for planning permission to carry out any development (in this section referred to as "the proposed development") if the office floor space to be created by the proposed development, together with any office floor space created or to be created by any related development, does not exceed the prescribed exemption limit.

For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section development shall, in relation to an application for planning permission (in this section referred to as "the relevant application "), be taken to be " related development" if—

it related, or is to relate, to the same building as that to which the proposed development is to relate (in this subsection referred to as the " relevant building "); or

it related, or is to relate, to a building which is, or is to be, contiguous or adjacent to the relevant building, and it was, or is to be, development comprised in, or for the purposes of, the same scheme or project or for the purposes of the same undertaking as the proposed development,

and (in either case) it fulfils one or other of the conditions mentioned in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, as the case may be, and is not excluded by subsection (5) or (6) of this section.

The said conditions, in relation to land within the metropolitan region, are—

that it is development for which, before the date of the relevant application, planning permission has been granted by a planning decision made on or after 5th November 1964 (whether before or after the passing of this Act);

that it is development (not falling within the preceding paragraph) which has (whether before or after the passing of this Act) been initiated on or after 5th November 1964 but before the date of the relevant application and is not development for which planning permission was granted by a planning decision made before 5th November 1964;

that it is development in respect of which an application to the local planning authority for planning permission either is pending on the date of the relevant application or is made on that date.

The said conditions, in relation to land within an area to which these provisions apply outside the metropolitan region, are—

that it is development for which, before the date of the relevant application, planning permission has been granted by a planning decision made on or after the specified date;

that it is development (not falling within the preceding paragraph) which has been initiated on or after the specified date but before the date of the relevant application and is not development for which planning permission was (whether before or after the passing of this Act) granted by a planning decision made before the specified date;

that it is development in respect of which an application to the local planning authority for planning permission either is pending on the date of the relevant application or is made on that date,

and in this subsection " the specified date " in relation to an area, means such date (not being earlier than the date on which the order comes into operation) as may be specified in the order designating that area as an area to which these provisions apply.

Where, before the date of the relevant application, an office development permit has been issued in respect of development which, apart from this subsection, would be related development for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section—

the development in respect of which the permit was issued; and

any other development which was carried out before the issue of that permit, or for which planning permission was granted by a planning decision made before the issue of that permit,

shall not be taken to be related development for those purposes.

Development in respect of which there has been issued by the Secretary of State an industrial development certificate with conditions attached to it by virtue of section 70(3)(b) of this Act shall not be taken to be related development for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

In this section " the prescribed exemption limit", subject to subsection (8) of this section, means 3,000 square feet; any reference to development relating to a building is a reference to development consisting of or including the erection, extension or alteration of the building or a change of use of the whole or part of the building; and any reference to an application pending on a particular date is a reference to an application made before that date and not withdrawn, where no planning decision on that application has been made before that date.

The Secretary of State may by order direct that such number of square feet (whether greater or less than 3,000 but not less than 1,000) as may be specified in the order shall be the prescribed exemption limit for the purposes of this section, either generally or in relation to any particular area to which these provisions apply in accordance with section 74(4) of this Act or in relation to any particular part of such an area.

Section 75: Exemption by reference to office floor space

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