Article 4 Directions: Offices to residential (no longer in force)

Article 4 Directions relating to the change of use from office to residential.

This Article 4 Direction expired on 1 August 2022 and is no longer in force.

Current status

On 1 September 2020, the government made changes to the way land uses are classified by introducing the combined commercial class, Class E.

On 1 August 2021, a new permitted development right from Class E to residential was introduced. This replaced the previous rights for change of use from office to residential that these Article 4 Directions were made under.

The Government included transitional arrangements so that our existing Article 4 Directions continued to have effect until 31 July 2022. After this, the directions ceased to be effective.

Subsequently, we made a further Article 4 Direction relating to the change of use from commercial, business and service use to residential. This was modified by the Secretary of State and came into force on 29 July 2022 and remains in force.

Article 4 Direction – in effect since 1 October 2016 (no longer in force)

On 4 September 2015, Richmond Council gave Notice(pdf, 16KB) of the making of a non-immediate Article 4 to remove the permitted development rights for change of use from office to residential.

On 7 July 2016, Richmond Council confirmed the non-immediate Article 4 Direction to remove the permitted development rights for change of use from B1(a) offices to C3 residential. This Article 4 Direction came into effect on 1 October 2016 and expired on 31 July 2022.

When it force, it was not possible to change the use of offices within the defined areas to residential uses without a grant of planning permission by the Council.

Map of areas

The Article 4 Direction applied to the following areas of the borough:

Hampton:

Hampton Wick:

Hampton Hill:

Teddington:

Twickenham:

East Twickenham:

Richmond:

Kew:

East Sheen and Mortlake:

Barnes:

Article 4 Direction – in effect since 30 November 2014 (no longer in force)

We had an Article 4 Direction in place from 30 November 2014 to remove permitted development rights to change from B1(a) offices to C3 residential. This Article 4 Direction expired on 1 August 2022.

Before they came into force, the Article 4 Directions were subject to a modification by the Secretary of State. The Notice of Modification is below.

The Direction was in force from 30 November 2014 to 1 August 2022. Permitted development rights for this type of development were withdrawn and planning permission was required to change use from B1 (a) offices to C3 residential.

Map of areas

The map of areas subject to Article 4 Directions(pdf, 1545KB) included the following areas: