London councils challenge office-to-resi rights

Areas in seventeen local authorities - including vast swathes of central London - have been exempted from new rights that make it easier to convert offices into resi, due to "exceptional economic circumstances".

The Mayor of London has published a new batch of planning rules for the capital's "Central Activities Zone", which runs from Kensington Gardens and Paddington in the west, to Aldgate in the east, and…