The expression 'material change of use', or MCU for short, refers to
the full term defined in the Planning Act 2016 'material
change of use, of premises'. It means starting
a new use, re-establishing an abandoned use, or materially increasing the scale
or intensity of the use. Some examples are replacing a house with a shopping
centre, converting an industrial building into a retail warehouse, recommencing
a service station after the pumps and tanks are removed, expanding a dining
area associated with a restaurant into a garden area doubling its size.
We
have, on several occasions, been able to persuade councils that a proposed
expansion of a business only involves 'building work assessable under the
planning scheme' rather than constituting a material change of use, meaning a simpler development application and saving considerable expense.