The Growing Importance of Fallback Planning in North Devon
North Devon's rural planning environment is increasingly being shaped by the strategic use of fallback planning, with developers and landowners securing permitted development right through Class Q, not just to convert agricultural barns, but to also establish a strong fallback position for more ambitious proposals.
What is Fallback Planning?
In North Devon, the fallback planning process enables you to build upon an existing Class Q approval for the conversion of agricultural buildings into residential use. While Class Q planning consents are typically quite restrictive and limit work to the existing building, a subsequent full planning application through the fallback strategy can allow enhanced design features, alterations and extensions that can go beyond what may originally be consented under Class Q.
With an approved Class Q scheme in place, applicants are able to demonstrate that residential development is already established in principle by referencing the Class Q as a fallback, thereby establishing a strong and credible fallback position.
What is Class Q?
Class Q is a permitted development right which allows certain agricultural buildings to be converted into 1 or more residential dwellings without the need for full planning consent, as long as specific criteria are met. WSCA have written a separate article about Class Q barn conversions and everything there is to know about them, which you can read here!
The Positives of Fallback Planning
1. Establishes the principle of development:
If a lawful fallback exists, such as an approved Class Q barn conversion, then the principle of the residential use has already been accepted. Consequently, your position is typically much stronger as instead of their being question of whether the development is acceptable in principle, the focus is mainly on the form and design that it should take.
2. Enables better design outcomes:
Class Q conversions are typically visually and structurally constrained. Fallback planning allows you to -
- Reconfigure layouts
- Improve architectural quality
- Better integrate development into the landscape
- Apply to demolish the approved Class Q consent and rebuild a new dwelling
You are not restricted by the form and shape of the existing building, allowing you to create a more attractive building and surroundings. There is also greater flexibility over factors such as materials, scale & repositioning of the dwelling, and landscaping & site layout.
3. Strengthens the planning balance:
Planning officers are required to give consideration to a fallback that is:
- Lawful
- Realistic
- Implementable
- Likely to be carried out
Refusing an improved scheme is hard to justify if a fallback dwelling could be built anyway, especially if the alternative offers improved design or landscape outcomes.
4. Secures a new 3-year implementation period:
A Class Q consented conversion must be completed within 3 years. However, a new full planning permission comes with a fresh 3 year commencement window, where you will only need to make a start on site within 3 years, rather than completing the build in the time frame.
5) Limited / No VAT
If you are demolishing the existing building and constructing a new home, there is no VAT on build costs. Similarly, if the building is being converted to residential rather than demolished, VAT costs apply but they are reduced to 5%.
An Example of a Fallback Position at Our Practice
Our team successfully secured planning permission through the fallback process for a new home in the countryside in North Devon. This site already had Prior Approval for Class Q, which gave consent for the conversion of an existing building into a dwelling. WSCA then applied for full planning permission to demolish the existing barn and erect a new dwelling following the Class Q consent.
The brief provided to us by the client was for the dwelling to include window openings that would provide key views across the valley, and the integration of internal & external spaces to create defined architectural features.
The dwelling was designed to give a familiar rural character while allowing for modern interpretation. The single-storey profile and use of vertical timber cladding softens the buildings appearance, ensuring it sits comfortably within it's setting, while the slate roof reinforces the local vernacular, referencing traditional North Devon agricultural buildings.
The evolution from the approved Class Q barn conversion to the subsequently approved full application demonstrates a clear and positive improvement of the scheme, moving from a compliant conversion to a more thoughtful and architecturally enhanced design.
The original design is shaped by the limitations of permitted development and as such, the form is largely dictated by the existing barn's original form. By contrast, the new full approval allows the scheme to be fully designed rather than just simply being converted. For example, the gable form becomes a key design feature, rather than an inherited shape from the original barn, and the openings are better aligned and proportioned.
Rather than simply replacing the original Class Q consent, the new design refines and improves it, attaining a dwelling that is more balanced and coherent. This showcases how the fallback process has delivered a materially and architecturally better outcome, which respects the established residential principle under Class Q, while significantly enhancing the overall quality and design of the dwelling.
Plans & elevations approved under Class Q consent
Plans & elevations approved under full application through fallback process
(Conclusion)
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Woodward Smith Chartered Architects
6 Tuly Street
Barnstaple
Devon
United Kingdom
EX31 1DH
