Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, only around one in eight working adults worked from home during a typical working week. That rose to almost half during the pandemic and has now settled at around 40% of the adult working population regularly working from home (ONS.gov.uk) The pandemic no doubt sped up the working-from-home revolution, accelerating the use of remote working technologies that we are all so reliant on now. Home working certainly supports a better home-life balance and enables more flexibility around how and when work is conducted.
For those with the luxury of space at home, the need to create a home-working set-up can easily be accommodated through the use of a dedicated spare room or perhaps an area in a quiet part of the house. For some people though, working from home is not possible without adapting, converting, extending or constructing additional space.
If you are looking to create additional space, say by building an extension to your home or siting a structure in your garden solely for business use, then planning permission would be required before any new build or physical alterations took place. A planning application would need to address all the relevant planning policy matters such as potential increase in traffic, car parking standards, the design, proposed building materials and flood risk, as well as any local planning policy points that may apply such as location and Conservation Area requirements if your property lies within a Conservation Area.
Working From Home Permissions
If you are seeking to convert a garage or garden workshop into a workspace from which to run a business, then this is likely to constitute what is called a ‘material change of use and would require you to apply for planning permission from your Local Planning Authority (LPA).
Some types of home working activities in themselves need planning permission, even if you are not making physical alterations to your home or garden. These might include providing services from your home such as childminding, tutoring and therapy, or running businesses such as a car mechanic workshop or beauty/hair salon. These types of work activity, depending on their nature and scale, can be deemed as a ‘material change of use’ and would require planning permission from your LPA. Make sure you check your LPA’s planning policies and rules to find out what types of work activity need and don’t need permission. A local planning consultant would be able to help advise.
If you are looking to apply for planning permission for a home-working business, you will need to include details in your application, about how you intend to run the business. How many staff will be employed, operating times, will you have regular deliveries or customers or visitors coming to your home?
It is really important to make sure that the impact on nearby neighbours is minimised to avoid any additional noise disturbance or impact on highway safety.
The benefits of working or running a business from home are well worth the efforts of creating the perfect working-from-home environment. Having dedicated space, separate from your personal life, enables you to work effectively and efficiently, whether that’s working at home for an employer or running your own business from your property.
What we can do for you
The Planning Genie masterclass on Working from Home will help you understand all the essential planning considerations for running a business from home or creating additional workspace. It will guide you through the key areas of planning policy and includes a free checklist which you can use to determine which policy areas apply to your situation.