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Under the terms of the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), a change of use from a drinking establishment to a retail use is allowed as "permitted development2. This means that the developer does not need to obtain planning permission and can go ahead with the development proposal.

However, from 6th April 2015, under an amendment to GPDO, it now states that if a building that falls within Use Class A4 (drinking establishments) has been listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), or has been nominated to be listed, it is no longer possible to change the use of that building to an A1 (retail), A2 (financial and professional services offices) or A3 (restaurant) use as permitted development.

However it needs to be clarified that having a building listed as an ACV does not automatically prevent any development occurring for the duration of the listing.

What it actually means is that the developer must seek planning permission in order to change the use of an ACV, and such an application will be subject to normal planning considerations: for more information about planning permission, click the following link: http://www.dudley.gov.uk/resident/planning/planning-services/

Permission may therefore still be granted by Dudley Council for the development or allowed an appeal by the Planning Inspectorate.

In other words, when a pub is listed as an ACV, the normally permitted development rights (which would have automatically granted permission) are taken away, rather than no development being permitted at all. The General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) 2015