Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2018

Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2016

50. (1) Section 3 of the Act of 2016 is amended—

(a) by inserting the following definition after the definition of “consultation meeting”:

“ ‘gross floor space’ means the area ascertained by the internal measurement of the floor space on each floor of a building (including internal walls and partitions), disregarding any floor space provided for the parking of vehicles by persons occupying or using the building or buildings where such floor space is incidental to the primary purpose of the building;”,

(b) by inserting the following definition:

“ ‘shared accommodation’ means a building or part thereof used for the provision of residential accommodation consisting of—

(a) communal living and kitchen facilities and amenities shared by the residents, and

(b) bedrooms rented by the residents,

but does not include student accommodation or a building, or part thereof, used for the provision of accommodation to tourists or visitors;”,

(c) in the definition of “strategic housing development”—

(i) by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(ba) development—

(i) consisting of shared accommodation units that, when combined, contain 200 or more bed spaces, and

(ii) on land the zoning of which facilitates the provision of shared accommodation or a mixture of shared accommodation thereon and its application for other uses,”,

(ii) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) development that contains developments of the type to which all of the foregoing paragraphs, or any two of the foregoing paragraphs, apply, or”,

(iii) by inserting “, (ba)” after “(b)” in paragraph (d),

(iv) in paragraph (i), by—

(I) substituting “houses, student accommodation units, shared accommodation units or any combination thereof” for “houses or student accommodation units, or both, as the case may be,”, and

(II) by inserting “or shared accommodation” after “within student accommodation”,

(v) by substituting “or shared accommodation” for “, or both, as the case may be,” in clause (I) of paragraph (ii), and

(vi) by inserting “or shared accommodation” after “student accommodation” in clause (II) of paragraph (ii),

(d) by inserting the following definition:

“ ‘student accommodation’—

(a) means a building or part thereof used or to be used to accommodate students whether or not provided by a relevant provider (within the meaning of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 ), and that is not for use—

(i) as permanent residential accommodation, or

(ii) subject to paragraph (b), as a hotel, hostel, apart-hotel or similar type accommodation,

and

(b) includes residential accommodation that is used as tourist or visitor accommodation but only if it is so used outside of academic term times;”,

and

(e) in the definition of “strategic housing development” by substituting “gross floor space” for “gross floor area” in paragraph (i).

(2) This section comes into operation upon the passing of this Act.