ABSTRACT
As with the Use Classes Order (UCO), the Town and Country (General Permitted Development) Order (GPDO) 1995 provides details of 'development' which fall within the limits of permitted development, and there is an obvious temptation to attempt to take full advantage of these rights by seeking to widen their interpretation where possible. It should be understood that development which exceeds the limits is not necessarily unacceptable; it does, however, require the submission of a planning application in the normal way. By a direction made under Art 4, the local planning authority (lpa) can restrict the scope of permitted development rights within a defined area. Abandonment of planning permission is one aspect of the problem, the other is the abandonment of a use which was in existence when planning control over development was introduced when the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 came into force, that is, it does not have the benefit of a subsequent planning permission.
