Monitoring building use
Non-residential monitoring keeps track of planning applications which have the potential to create jobs. This monitoring helps us form policies and make decisions about the local economy.
Our monitoring reports use the ‘use classes’ from The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, which are categories to refer to different activities of a building.
Based on these categories, the main data we collect comes from planning applications which include the following classes:
- general industrial (B2)
- storage and distribution (B8)
- commercial, business and service (E)
- mixed uses – this includes schemes that mix components of B and E with other uses, such as a residential building with shops on the ground floor
However, for context and so that we can track changes of use we also include:
- residential (C)
- education and community facilities (D)
- sui generis (SG) – this includes activities that don’t fit into any other category, such as takeaways, launderettes, nail parlours