Article 4 Directions

On 14 July 2022, the council confirmed a non-immediate Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights to demolish vacant commercial buildings and construct new residential buildings in their place, together with the right to build new dwelling houses on detached or terraced buildings in commercial or mixed use. These are the permitted development rights covered by Classes ZA, AA and AB of Part 20 of Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order. The Article 4 directions originally came into force on 30 July 2022.  Following this the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities modified this Article 4 Direction to reduce the extent of the area. The modified direction came into effect on 27 March 2024.

In the areas affected these types of development require full planning permission. This is to ensure the council can control and protect important areas of economic activity within the borough, and ensure that where new residential development is proposed it is subject to consideration against the policies in the Local Plan.  

Please see the Article 4 Direction Notices below for further details, including maps of the areas affected. Please note that the modified Article 4 Direction has different boundaries to the designations on which they are based.   

• Full Council decision 

Class AA and AB 

• Article 4 Direction Notice before modification (Classes AA and AB)
• Article 4 Direction and Plan before modification (Classes AA and AB)
• Letter from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Class AA and AB)
• Direction from the Secretary of State modifying the Article 4 Direction (Class AA and AB)
• Notice of modification of the Article 4 Direction (Class AA and AB)
• Article 4 Direction map whole borough (Class AA)
• Article 4 Direction map whole borough (Class AB)
• Article 4 Direction detail maps (Class AA and AB)

Class ZA 

• Article 4 Direction Notice before modification (Class ZA)
• Proposed Article 4 Direction and Plan (Class ZA) before modification
• Letter from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Class ZA)
• Direction from the Secretary of State modifying the Article 4 Direction (Class ZA)
• Notice of modification of the Article 4 Direction (Class ZA)
• Article 4 Direction map whole borough (Class ZA)
• Article 4 Direction detail maps (Class ZA)

The above notices, directions and accompanying plans are also available to view by appointment only at the Civic Centre, High Street, Uxbridge, UB8 1UW