On the 1 September 2020, the Government introduced two new use classes, these are Class E (which incorporates old use class A1-A3, B1, D1 and D2) and F Class (which includes A1, D1 and D2). Old class A4 and A5 will become Sui Generis (SG) along with some of D2. This came into full force on 31 July 2021.

Applications for large employment developments are not as frequent as housing and therefore the monitoring of these does not need to be as often.  Alongside the large developments are the smaller change of uses (COU) and extensions to already existing businesses.  Site visits are conducted twice a year (September and March) and spreadsheets complied to show the data. 

All employment developments are given a use class.  Planning use classes are the legal framework which determines what a particular property may be used for by its lawful occupants.  In England these are contained within the text of Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987.  Use classes are divided into groups to help make it easier to differentiate between the type of development.  At the present time the Use Class system is going through a period of reform, the following list is for the new system.

• Use Class B2 (General Industry) - Industrial processes other than falling within class E.
• Use Class B8 (Storage and Distribution) - Use for storage or as a distribution centre.
• Use Class C1 (Hotels) - Hotels, boarding and guest houses (where no element of care is provided).
• Use Class C2 (a) (Residential Institutions) - Residential accommodation and care to people in need of care, residential schools, colleges or training centres, hospitals, nursing homes, (a) prisons, young offenders institutions, detention centres, secure training centres etc.
• Use Class C4 (HMO) - Houses in Multiple Occupation.
• Use Class E (Commercial, Business and Service) - Shops, restaurants, financial and professional services, indoor sport, recreation or fitness, not involving motorised vehicles or firearms, health or medical services, crèche, nursery or day centre principally to visiting members of the public, an office, research and development, or any industrial process that can be carried out in any residential area without detriment to amenity.
• Use Class F1 (Learning and non-residential institutions) - Schools, non-residential education and training centres, museums, public libraries, public halls, exhibitions halls, places of worship, law court.
• Use Class F2 (Local Community Uses) - Community Halls, outdoor sport or recreation not involving motorised vehicles or firearms, indoor or outdoor swimming pools or skating rinks, shop of less than 280sqm selling essential goods and at least 1km from a similar shop.
• Use Class Sui Generis ( Uses which do not fall within the above) - Theatres, large HMO (more than 6 people sharing), hostels, petrol filling stations, shops selling and/or displaying motor vehicles, scrap yards, retail warehouses clubs, nightclubs, launderettes, taxi or vehicle hire businesses, amusement centres, casinos, funfairs, waste disposal installations, betting offices, pay day loan shops, pubs or drinking establishments, drinking establishments with expanded food provision, hot food takeaways, venues for live music performance, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls.

The use classes are used in monitoring to make sure that there are no huge losses of a certain type. 

Please Note: Use Class A (Sale of Goods) and D (non-residential institutions and leisure) will still appear in the monitoring data for some time to come as applications can take up to 3 years to implement.

Permitted Developments

This section holds information on employment applications that have been permitted.

All Employment Applications - This spreadsheet gives details of all employment applications and their outcomes.

Permitted Employment Developments - This spreadsheet gives floorspace information on applications permitted by quarter.  

C2 Care Home Development Status - This spreadsheet gives details of all applications received for care homes and retirement living from decision to completion of the development for the Plan:MK period.

C1 Hotel Development Status - This spreadsheet gives detail of all applications received for hotels from decision to completion for the Plan:MK period.  

Places of Worship - This spreadsheet gives details of applications for places of worship and their status.

Employment Monitoring for March 2024

Any application that is associated with employment is monitored.  Developments range from the simple change of use to large developments for multi-national companies.  School building, leisure facilities, hotel and the building of new local centres in our expansion areas are also monitored.

Development Type Monitoring

For monitoring year 2023-24 data is unavailable due to reporting issues. Current published data represents data from monitoring year 2022-23. Please check this page for future updates.

This section outlines the total number of applications and their status at the end of the current period (1 October - 31 March).

Number of Applications Not Yet Started = 136

Floor space Monitoring

(1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023)

For monitoring year 2023-24 data is unavailable due to reporting issues. Current published data represents data from monitoring year 2022-23. Please check this page for future updates.

This section looks at the floor space gained and lost by the two quarters completions.  By monitoring floor space any trends and patterns in lost floor space can be tracked and the appropriate action taken.  All floor space are measured in metres squared (sqm).

A1-A5 Retail Floorspace Completions - This spreadsheet gives details of all the completions for Use Class A (Sale of Goods).

B1-B8 Business Floorspace Completions - This spreadsheet gives details of all the completions for Use Class B (Business, Industry, Storage and Distribution).

C1-C2 Residential Business Floorspace Completions - This spreadsheet gives details of all the completions for Use Class C (Residential Institutions).  This spreadsheet does not include C3 (Dwellings) and C4 (Houses in Multiple Occupation) as these are covered in the Housing Development Monitoring section of this website.

D1-D2 Non-residential Institutions Floorspace and SG Completions - This spreadsheet gives details of all the completions for Use Class D (Non-residential Institutions and Assembly) and Sui Generis (all other uses).

E Commercial, Business and Service Floorspace Completions - This spreadsheet gives details of all the completions for Use Class E (Commercial, Business and Service).

F1-F2 Learning, Non-residential and Community Floorspace Completions - This spreadsheet gives details of all the completions for Use Class F (Learning, Non-residential and Community).

Long Term Monitoring

In Order to be able to find long term trends in employment development a spreadsheet has been produced that show completion figures going back to 2004. This allows us to see any permanent trends and pinpoint any economic trouble such as the financial crash in 2006-2008. It is a great way to find declines in one sector and increases in another.

Long Term Employment Monitoring - This spreadsheet gives data of completions from 2004/05 to present day.