Developers in Swindon turned vacant offices into flats on more than 500 occasions in five years by using powers to bypass normal planning rules. The Local Government Association warned communities may have lost out on “desperately needed” affordable housing through the use of permitted development rights which allow certain conversions to be carried out without full planning permission. Data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government reveals there were 534 office-to-residential conversions in Swindon in the five years to 2019-20. Of those, 47 took place last year, while 2015-16 saw 297 of them, which is the highest number carried out over the period.