Office to housing conversion plan for Sidcup: The fifth in one area
Plans are in to convert an office in Sidcup occupied by Housing Association L&Q into 57 flats using Permitted Development Rights.
The building is split into two – with River House already seeing approval for housing. This plan is for Cray House which takes up the bulk of the site.
Permitted Development Rights allow many hurdles for new homes can be avoided, including a need to provide “affordable” housing or pay the local authority to mitigate development.
Until this year, developers did not even need to provide windows or natural light to flats, nor conform to minimum room sizes.
In May this year there was an application to convert a block on a nearby industrial estate into housing. That has been approved.
Directly opposite is another block which saw an application for conversion to 50 flats in 2020.
It was refused, however that was on technicalities and under Permitted Rights approval should be a given if correct documents are now supplied.
And that’s not all in that area. Yet another block was converted into housing just next door.
Unlike the others this involved more substantial change, with a grey appendage added on top.
That’s five office blocks in a small area all likely or already converted – with little income due to Permitted Rights to pay for extra pressure on healthcare, transport, schools and more.
Click here to view the planning application.
