What Is an Article 4 Direction? What It Removes and How to Check Your Street (2026)

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What an Article 4 direction is

Permitted development ("PD") is planning permission granted nationally by the General Permitted Development Order 2015 (GPDO). Article 3 grants it. Article 4 lets the Secretary of State or the local planning authority switch it off. If either is satisfied that it is "expedient that development described in any Part, Class or paragraph in Schedule 2… should not be carried out unless permission is granted for it on an application", they may direct that article 3's permission does not apply to:

• (a) "all or any development of the Part, Class or paragraph in question in an area specified in the direction"; or
• (b) "any particular development, falling within that Part, Class or paragraph, which is specified in the direction".

So a direction can be area-wide (a conservation area, a street, a whole borough) or site-specific (one building). It can withdraw one class or many. The Government's guidance says a direction can remove rights "related to operational development or change of use", with temporary or permanent effect (PPG 13-037), but it cannot restrict changes between uses within the same Use Class (PPG 13-036).

Some rights are protected. Article 4(1) excludes a short list of classes outright. Article 4(2) protects, among other things, development under a prior approval given before the direction came into force and completed within three years of that approval. Article 4(3) protects certain statutory-undertaker works unless the direction expressly covers them. The PPG explains that the exclusions protect "national concerns, safety, or maintenance work for existing facilities" (PPG 13-039). Article 4(1) was updated on 9 April 2026 by SI 2026/313 to add a new Part 7 Class CA to the list.

Three things a direction does not do:

1. It does not stop work already started or finished. "Article 4 directions cannot prevent development which has been commenced, or which has already been carried out" (PPG 13-046).
2. It does not itself say "no". It "only means that a particular development cannot be carried out under permitted development and therefore needs a planning application. This gives a local planning authority the opportunity to consider a proposal in more detail" (PPG 13-040).
3. It does not need national approval in England. The council notifies the Secretary of State, who "does not have to approve article 4 directions, and will only intervene when there are clear reasons for doing so" (PPG 13-050).

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Immediate and non-immediate directions

There are two procedures, both in Schedule 3 to the GPDO.

Non-immediate directions (paragraph 1). The council advertises the direction locally, displays notices at no fewer than two places in the area for at least six weeks, and serves notice on the owner and occupier of every affected property, unless that is impracticable. The notice must give people at least 21 days to make representations, and must name the date the direction is proposed to come into force, which "must be at least 28 days but no longer than 2 years after" the start of that representation period (para 1(4)). The council cannot confirm the direction until at least 28 days after the last notice, and must take the representations into account (para 1(9)–(10)). The direction "does not come into force unless confirmed" (para 1(7)).

Immediate directions (paragraph 2). These bite on the day notice is served on the occupier (or the owner, if there is no occupier), or, where individual service is impracticable, on the day the notice is first published or displayed (para 2(5)). They are available only in two cases:

• where the direction relates only to development under Parts 1 to 4 of Schedule 2, or Class B or C of Part 11, and the council considers it "prejudicial to the proper planning of their area or constitute a threat to the amenities of their area"; or
• where the direction is in a conservation area and covers only the works listed in para 2(3): extensions and alterations, roof-slope alterations, porches, outbuildings and hard surfaces where they front a "relevant location" (a highway, waterway or open space); chimneys; and antennas, gates, fences and walls, painting of the exterior, and demolition of gates, fences and walls where they front such a location.

An immediate direction "expires at the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which it comes into force unless confirmed" by the council (para 2(6)). The PPG adds that in all cases the council must already have begun consultation towards a non-immediate direction (PPG 13-045).

A common mistake: "directions take effect at least 12 months later." You may read that. The Schedule says 28 days to two years (para 1(4)(e)). The figure of 12 months comes from the compensation rules (below): a council that gives between 12 months' and 2 years' notice of a direction on the main householder rights escapes liability for compensation. That is a financial incentive, not a statutory minimum: a direction can lawfully take effect sooner, and an immediate direction takes effect at once.

Test of whether it is justified. The NPPF (published 17 August 2026, policy DM10) says the use of Article 4 directions to remove permitted development rights should "be limited to situations where it is necessary to protect local amenity or the wellbeing of the area", be "based on robust evidence" and "apply to the smallest area required to mitigate the evidenced harm". The PPG says a "particularly strong justification" is needed for directions over a wide area, such as a whole district, National Park or AONB, or for microgeneration equipment (PPG 13-038).

03

What directions typically remove

A direction can reach any Schedule 2 class other than the protected ones, so there is no single list. The classes below are the ones the examples in this section turn on:

This is illustrative, not a promise about your area. As one real example, Brighton & Hove City Council says that "most Article 4 Directions in the city are used to protect the character of a conservation area or the visual amenities of other areas", that its heritage directions require planning permission for minor developments such as "new porches, replacement windows and doors, replacement roof coverings and painting of the exterior of a building", and that others cover changes of use such as small HMOs and office to residential. The NPPF's own examples of what Article 4 directions can safeguard are local facilities, "an over-concentration of uses… such as small Houses in Multiple Occupation", and town centre vitality (DM10(1)(a)).

HMOs are one use, not the whole subject. Small HMOs are the use most people associate with Article 4, and the NPPF names them as an example. They have their own guide with a checked, council-by-council table: Article 4 HMO directions by council. Everything on this page applies equally to HMO directions, but the council list is there.

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How to check your street

1. Your council's Article 4 page or map. Most councils list their directions with a map. Search for "[your council] Article 4 direction". Example: Brighton & Hove lists each heritage direction by conservation area.
2. The national dataset. planning.data.gov.uk publishes an Article 4 direction area layer ("information on areas affected by article 4 directions"), and a companion Article 4 direction dataset. Both carry the service's warning that "the data may be incomplete and not yet cover all of England". An absence on the map is not proof of an absence of a direction.
3. Local land charges. Conservation areas are a local land charge by name (s69(4)), and councils commonly register Article 4 directions too: HM Land Registry's guidance to councils on preparing data for the digital register uses an Article 4 notice, registered against a street and against every property in it, as its worked example. Search the local land charges service (free to search, or £15 for an official certificate). Not every council's data has moved onto it yet.
4. A solicitor's CON29 search, if you are buying. The standard enquiries are the Law Society's CON29 (2016). Question 3.9 asks whether any of a list of notices and orders subsists or has been decided on, and item (j) is a "direction restricting permitted development". The Law Society's guidance notes say the responses to 3.9(a), (c) and (f)–(n) "should not reveal or duplicate information that would be revealed by searching the Local Land Charges Register". A direction that is already registered may therefore not appear in the CON29 answer, so a buyer needs both searches.
5. Read the direction itself. The statutory notice must describe the development, the area and "a statement of the effect of the direction", and say where a copy of the direction and a map can be seen (Sch 3 para 1(4)(a)–(c)). The direction is what tells you whether, say, front doors are covered but rear extensions are not.
6. Get certainty before you build. An email from a planning officer helps, but it does not bind the council. A lawful development certificate for proposed works does: under section 192 the lawfulness of what it covers is "conclusively presumed" unless something relevant changes before the work starts. The fee is half the planning fee (£274 for a householder alteration, £136 for curtilage works, from 1 April 2026: see the MHCLG schedule). Also check the property's history and any conditions: see how to check the planning history of a property.

To see what actually gets applied for in areas with directions, our council pages show recent applications, for example for Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham.

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If you're covered: you apply, and you pay the normal fee

Work that a direction takes out of permitted development needs a planning application like any other. Three practical points.

The fee. You do pay one. Regulation 5 of the 2012 Fees Regulations once exempted applications that were needed only because permitted development had been withdrawn. It was omitted with effect from 17 January 2018 by SI 2017/1314 (reg 5(2)), and the explanatory note to that instrument says this "means that a planning application fee may be charged by local planning authorities where they have made a direction withdrawing permitted development rights under article 4". The PPG confirms: "Yes, a planning application fee may be payable" (PPG 13-041). From 1 April 2026, the MHCLG schedule gives £548 for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a single house (category 6, the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of an existing house) and £272 for operations in the curtilage such as outbuildings, gates, fences and walls (category 7). This is the same figure as for any other application: our HMO guide reaches the same conclusion for change-of-use applications. The fee exceptions that survive are narrow, for example work for a disabled resident (reg 4).

How it will be decided. The council weighs the proposal against its local plan and the NPPF. In a conservation area that includes the statutory duty to preserve or enhance character or appearance: see Conservation Areas and Planning.

Timing. A householder application is due a decision in 8 weeks unless you agree longer (DMPO art 34), and you have 12 weeks to appeal a refusal (art 37). Appeals are heard by the Planning Inspectorate: see how to appeal a planning decision.

If you built first. Work done in breach of a direction is unauthorised development, and you can apply after the event: see retrospective planning permission. Time limits for enforcement are explained there and in planning enforcement.

06

Compensation

The council can be liable to pay compensation when it withdraws permitted development rights, but only in a narrow set of cases, and often not at all.

When it arises. Section 108 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 applies where permission granted by a development order is withdrawn (including "by the issue of directions under powers conferred by the order") and, on an application, permission for the formerly permitted development "is refused or is granted subject to conditions other than those imposed by that order". Section 107 then supplies the measure: a person interested in the land who "has incurred expenditure in carrying out work which is rendered abortive", or "has otherwise sustained loss or damage which is directly attributable", is entitled to compensation. The PPG puts it simply: only "abortive expenditure or other loss or damage directly attributable to the withdrawal" (PPG 13-042).

The time limit. For development of a "prescribed description" withdrawn by direction in England, s108 applies "only if" the application is made "before the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the date on which the directions took effect" (s108(2A)).

The 12-month notice rule. There is no compensation (s108(3B)–(3C)) if the development is of a prescribed description, the permission is withdrawn by Article 4 direction, notice was published "not less than 12 months or more than" the prescribed period before it took effect, and the development had not started when the notice was published. The prescribed period is two years (Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (England) Regulations 2015, reg 4(3)), and the prescribed development includes all of Part 1 of Schedule 2 (householder rights) and many change-of-use classes, among others (reg 2). In plain terms: for the main householder rights, a direction that gives 12 to 24 months' notice generally leaves nothing to claim, while an immediate direction or short notice can.

If a direction stops a project you had already paid for (architect's fees, say), keep the receipts and take advice. This is a specialist area, and the 2015 Regulations list the classes where the rules apply.

07

Article 4 vs a conservation area vs a planning condition

On conditions, the PPG says conditions restricting future use of PD rights "may not pass the test of reasonableness or necessity" and must be "precisely defined", and notes that "area-wide or blanket removal" is unlikely to be acceptable; Article 4 is the tool for that (PPG 21a-017).

A house can be affected by all three. A conservation area does not mean there is an Article 4 direction: see Conservation Areas and Planning. A direction can also last indefinitely: "an article 4 direction can remain in place permanently once it has been confirmed", although councils should monitor them (PPG 13-049).

08

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

"Article 4" is an article of the English 2015 Order. Each nation has its own order and its own equivalent.

• Wales. Article 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 still applies in Wales (the 1995 Order was revoked for England on 15 April 2015). It lets "the Welsh Ministers or the appropriate local planning authority" direct that a class of permission does not apply. Since 20 October 2022 the procedure has been in Schedule 2A to the 1995 Order, and it closely mirrors England's: notice, at least 21 days for representations, and a start date 28 days to 2 years ahead. The Welsh Ministers are sent a copy but do not approve the direction.
• Scotland. Article 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 allows the planning authority to direct that permission does not apply, but a direction by a planning authority "shall require the approval of the Secretary of State" (art 4(3)), a function exercised by the Scottish Ministers (Scotland Act 1998 ss53 and 117). The exception is a direction that relates only to a listed building or its curtilage (art 4(5)). That approval step is a real difference from England, where no approval is needed.
• Northern Ireland. Article 4 of the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 lets a council direct that permission does not apply, but "a direction by a council under this Article shall require the approval of the Department" (art 4(2)).

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Related guides

• Article 4 HMO directions by council
• Conservation areas and planning
• Permitted development rights explained
• Retrospective planning permission
• How much does planning permission cost?

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Law checked against legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK as at 20 October 2026. PPG paragraph numbers are the Reference IDs printed after each paragraph on GOV.UK. Councils' own directions and maps are the authority for your street.

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