English (UK) The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 separates the uses of specific land and buildings into various categories or ‘use classes’.
This is a general guide, in the first instance, only to the Use Classes and is not intended to be a comprehensive list for taking detailed profressional advice. No liability is accepted for the information it cpontains or for errors or omissions.
It’s important to note that it is up to the local planning authority to determine, dependant on the individual circumstances of each case, which particular ‘use class’ a property may fall into.
Please contact us if you wanyt additional information.
Class A1 – Shops:
Use for any or all of the following purposes:
Shops
Retail Warehouses
Hairdressers
Ticket & Travel Agencies
Post Offices (but not Sorting Offices)
Funeral Directors
Pet Shops
Sandwich Bars (or other cold food for consumption off the premises)
Showrooms
Domestic Hire Shops
Dry Cleaners
Internet CafésClass
Class A2 – Financial & Professional Services:
Use for the provision of:
Financial Services (such as Banks & Building Societies)
Professional Services (other than Health & Medical Services)
Estate Agents
Employment Agencies
Betting Shops
Class A3 – Restaurants & Cafés:
For the sale of food or drink for consumption on the premises or of hot food for consumption off the premises, including restaurants, snack bars and cafés
Class B1 – Business:
Use for any or all of the following purposes:
Offices (other than for use within Class A2)
For Research & Development of products or processes
For any industrial process (being a use which can be carried out in any residential area without detriment to the amenity of that area by noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust or grit.
Class B2 – General Industrial:
For the use of industrial processes other than ones falling within Class B1 (excluding incineration purposes, chemical treatment or landfill and hazardous waste), or within Classes B3 to B7.
Classes B3 – B7 – Special Industrial Groups:
These five Use Classes are concerned with the uses, processes and manufacture of chemicals, metalwork, acids, oils, animal by-products and mining and quarrying.
If you need further information on any of these Use Classes, please contact us.
Class B8 – Distribution & Storage:
For storage or as a distribution centre (including open air storage)
Class C1 – Hotels & Hostels:
Use for any or all of the following purposes where in each case, no significant element of care is provided:
Hotels
Boarding Houses
Guest Houses
Hostels
Class C2 – Residential Institutions:
Use for any or all of the following purposes:
Residential accommodation and care to people in need of care (other than within Use Class C3)
Hospitals
Nursing Homes
Residential Schools
Residential Colleges
Residential Training Centres
Class C3 – Dwellings, Houses, Flats & Apartments:
For use as a dwelling house (whether or not as a sole or main residence:
By a single person or by people living together as a family, or
By not more than six residents living together as a single household (including a household where care is provided by residents)
Class D1 – Non-Residential Institutions:
For any use not including a residential use:
Medical or Health Services
Crèche
Day Nurseries
Day Centres
For the provision of education
For the display of works of art (other than for sale of hire)
Museums
Public Libraries or Public Reading Rooms
Public Halls or Exhibition Halls
For, or in connection with public worship or religious instruction
Class D2 – Assembly & Leisure:
Use for any or all of the following purposes:
Cinemas
Concert Halls
Bingo Halls
Casinos
Dance Halls
Swimming Pools
Skating Rinks
Gyms
Other areas for indoor or outdoor sports and recreation (other than motorised vehicles or where firearms are used)
Class ‘Sui Generis:
‘Sui Generis’ is a Latin phrase translated as ‘of its own kind’ and it covers uses that don’t fall into any of the above Use Classes:
Theatres
Houses in multiple paying occupation
Hostels providing no significant element of care
Scrap Yards
Petrol Filling Stations
Shops selling or displaying motor vehicles
Retail Warehouse Clubs
Nightclubs
Launderettes
Taxi & Minicab Businesses
Amusement Centres
For more information on any of the above, please contact us.
