General planning advice
Article 4 directions
An Article 4 Direction prevents people exercising 'permitted development' rights, i.e. development which does not need planning permission, in certain circumstances.
Certain types of development can be carried out without the need for planning permission. This is known as 'permitted development', and covers a wide range of minor developments by householders, farmers and foresters.
It also includes developments by 'statutory undertakers' - this term covers a wide variety of public bodies, such as gas and electricity providers and water boards.
In some circumstances, the council may wish to prevent people from exercising these rights in order to retain control on the way in which the development is carried out.
This does not necessarily mean that it is against such development, but just that the council wishes to exercise control over new development.
An example might be where the particular design or the materials used for say a new housing development are of such a high quality that the council feel that they should be protected from alterations that would otherwise be permitted development.
This is usually done by means of a direction under Article 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 Order (Statutory Instrument 1995, No. 418).
The government's policy is that 'permitted development' rights should only be withdrawn in exceptional circumstances, i.e. where there is evidence of a real and specific threat to an interest of acknowledged importance.
