Radio 4 – My Name is Immie

The Housing Crisis – why no planning permission is needed to rent rooms in an  office block.

We often hear that there is a national housing crisis, but don’t always understand what that means. Immie, who is just 22, has made over 80 freedom of information requests to find out how many people are being temporarily housed in office blocks. She discovers that it is perfectly legal to do this – developers can bypass normal planning regulations thanks to Permitted Development Rights or PDR. She meets an architect and a council leader who both say it’s wrong, though their reasons are not the same.

For the full story, see the link to the Radio 4 programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f6tv