Emerging Article 4 Directions

Consultation on Article 4 Direction relating to removal of permitted development rights to change of use from Class E (commercial class) to C3 (residential)

On Wednesday 13 December 2023, Cabinet approved the preparation of a non-immediate Article 4 Direction to remove the permitted development rights to change use from Class E (commercial, business or service) to C3 (residential) on protected employment sites within the Borough and to prepare and undertake a public consultation. 

The protected employment sites are set out in the Borough Local Plan Policy ED2 and the Article 4 Direction itself. The locations of the protected employment sites can also be viewed using the Interactive Policies Map and adding the layers for Business Areas, Industrial Areas, Mixed Use Areas and Established Employment sites in the Green Belt.

An Article 4 direction enables a local planning authority to withdraw specified permitted development rights across a defined area. Whilst this does not prevent the change of use or development in that location, it ensures that it requires full planning permission and therefore can be more robustly scrutinised by the local authority in relation to their planning policies.

Due to the high number of landowners within the protected employment site affected by this proposed Article 4 Direction, it is not practicable to serve individual notice in this instance, unless the sites have a single landowner. Therefore at least one public notice will be placed in a public location within each site for a period of not less than six weeks.

The Council consulted on this Article 4 Direction for six weeks, from Tuesday 30 January until 11:59pm on Tuesday 12 March 2024. The consultation is now closed.

Consultation Documents

• Article 4 Direction and maps
• Justification for introducing an Article 4 Direction
• Public Notice (details of consultation)
• Representation form (in Word format)
• Article 4 Direction FAQ Sheet

Next steps

All comments received will now be reviewed and a report will be taken to Cabinet in due course. If confirmed, the Article 4 Direction will come into force Thursday 30 January 2025.