Article 4 Directions - Commercial, business and service use to residential

Article 4 Directions relating to the change of use from commercial, business and service use to residential.

A non-immediate Article 4 Direction was made on 30 July 2021 to remove permitted development rights regarding the change of use from class E use (commercial, business and service uses) to C3 use (dwellinghouses). The effect of the Direction means that a change of use from a town centre use to residential in these locations would require planning permission and will be assessed against our Local Plan planning policies.

The Council formally confirmed the Article 4 Direction at the Environment, Sustainability, Culture and Sports Committee on 21 June 2022. View a copy of the Article 4 Direction (pdf, 84 KB)

View a borough map of all sites (pdf, 12.4 MB)

Modification of Article 4 Direction by the Secretary of State

The Article 4 Direction has been modified by the Secretary of State and as a result the Direction is restricted to the smaller areas identified in the maps below:

• Overview map of borough (pdf, 753 KB)
• Sites 1-10 (pdf, 3.4 MB)
• Sites 11-20 (pdf, 3.4 MB)
• Sites 21-30 (pdf, 3.2 MB)
• Sites 31-40 (pdf, 3.1 MB)
• Sites 41-50 (pdf, 3.4 MB)
• Sites 51-60 (pdf, 3.7 MB)

View a copy of the letter from the Secretary of State (pdf, 383 KB).  

Although it is disappointing, we consider that the Article 4 Direction as modified, will be effective as it covers 62 areas across the borough where the main concentrations of commercial and business uses are located. They include areas within the five town centres, local and neighbourhood centres, down to local parades providing useful shops and services to residents and visitors. The Article 4 Direction also continues to include key business areas including industrial estates and business parks.

The modified Article 4 Direction came into force on 29 July 2022.