The Department for Infrastructure has made the Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026, a statutory rule published on legislation.gov.uk on 22 April 2026. The measure comes into operation on 13 May 2026 and amends the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015. The amendment inserts a new Class E into Part 34 of the 2015 Order. In practical terms, that creates a permitted development route for certain reverse vending machines at shops, rather than requiring every qualifying installation to go through a full planning application.
The change is narrower than the Part 34 heading may first suggest. Although that Part of the 2015 Order covers shops, financial and professional services establishments, the new class applies to a shop, defined in the Order as a building used for a purpose within Class A1 of the Use Classes Order. That point matters for operators planning roll-out ahead of deposit return arrangements. The permission is attached to a specific use category and only applies where the siting and design criteria in Class E are met.
The legislation ties the planning definition directly to the deposit return framework. The term deposit item takes its meaning from regulation 4 of the Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025. Class E then defines a reverse vending machine as equipment that accepts those items, reimburses the deposit for each accepted item and retains the items for collection under that scheme. The definition is wider than the machine cabinet alone. It also covers any associated enclosure, building, canopy or other structure, which means the planning limits apply to the whole installation and not only the collection point.
The permitted development right is subject to fixed size controls. A reverse vending machine cannot rely on Class E if it would exceed 4 metres in height or 80 square metres in floor space. Where a machine is installed in the wall of a shop, the legislation adds a further test: no part of it may project more than 2 metres beyond the outer surface of that wall. The effect is to allow modest shop-based installations while screening out larger or more visually prominent formats.
The Order also sets clear location restrictions. Permitted development is not available if the installation would sit within 15 metres of the curtilage of a building used for residential purposes, or if it would face onto and be within 5 metres of a road. Separate protections apply in sensitive places. Class E cannot be used within the curtilage of a listed building unless listed building consent has already been granted, and it is disapplied altogether in a conservation area, a World Heritage Site, an Area of Special Scientific Interest or a site of archaeological interest.
The new right is not open-ended. The statutory rule requires the development to be removed as soon as reasonably practicable once the reverse vending machine is no longer in operation. It also requires the land, and any wall into which the machine was installed, to be restored as soon as reasonably practicable and so far as reasonably practicable to its pre-development condition. That gives planning authorities a clear fallback position where equipment is discontinued.
For retailers, the amendment should reduce planning friction for deposit return infrastructure at qualifying shop sites from 13 May 2026. Where a proposal stays within the Class E limits, the route is faster and more predictable than a full application. The change does not remove the need for site checks. Schemes close to homes, road-facing proposals, larger structures and installations in heritage or environmentally protected locations will still fall outside permitted development, and operators will need to consider whether a planning application, listed building consent or an alternative location is required.