What are use classes? How are these relevant to healthier food environments?

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) categorises uses of land and buildings into ‘use classes’ (1).

A use class sets out what function a building or land can be used for. Changes of use of a building or land can occur within the same use class or from one use class to another. Change of use within the same class does not constitute development and therefore does not require planning permission. However, the material change of use from one class to another generally requires planning permission. Some uses do not fall into a use class. (These are sometimes referred to as a sui generis use – a Latin term meaning ‘of its own kind’). Some of these are listed in article 3 (2) of the Use Classes Order. For a list of all use classes, please refer to the Planning Portal (3).

The government introduced changes to use classes from 1 September 2020. Some of these changes are relevant to planning for a healthier food environment (4), for example:

Table definitions:

• A3 Restaurants and cafés: for the sale of food and drink for consumption on the premises
• A4 Drinking establishments: public houses, wine bars or other drinking establishments
• A5 Hot food takeaways: for the sale of hot food for consumption off the premises
• Class E Commercial, business and service: a range of other shops and non-food uses, including for the sale of food and drink principally to visiting members of the public where consumption of that food and drink is mostly undertaken on the premises
• Sui Generis Drinking establishments: public house, wine bar, drinking establishment
• Sui Generis Drinking establishment with expanded food provision
• Sui Generis Hot food takeaways): hot food takeaway for the sale of hot food where consumption of that food is mostly undertaken off the premises

The allocated use class for hot food takeaways to Sui Generis provides local authorities with greater control to prevent their proliferation. This is because any change of use to or from a sui generis use and material changes within sui generis use requires full local consideration through a planning application process, except in defined circumstances such as permitted development rights (5). Permitted development rights are introduced in Step 2.12. There are no permitted development rights for the change of use to a hot food takeaway.

However, the replacement of the use class A3 Restaurants and cafes with Class E Commercial, business and service, means that it is now easier to change between non-food business uses (such as a retail shop) and food businesses (such as a restaurant or cafe). As such, local planning authorities now have less power to control the food environment. Any impact that these use class changes have on people’s dietary behaviours and their health will take time to become apparent.

Planning use classes cannot directly control the type of food being sold. Less healthy food is typically sold in a range of premises, with some restaurants and cafes selling food that is no healthier than an average hot food takeaway. Convenience stores and petrol stations can also sell food high in fat, salt and sugar. There is no explicit planning threshold of what constitutes a hot food takeaway. However, the 2020 amendment to the Use Classes Order makes a clearer distinction between a Class E restaurant where consumption is mostly undertaken on the premises, and a hot food takeaway where consumption is mostly undertaken off the premises.