Article 4 directions and your windows

This page is about England, where directions are made under article 4(1) of the General Permitted Development Order 2015. The other three nations use different orders — see the note near the end and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. For the subject in one place, start with the complete guide to conservation area windows; for whether your work needs permission at all, see do you need planning permission to replace windows in a conservation area?.

What article 4(1) actually says

If the Secretary of State or the local planning authority is satisfied that it is expedient that development described in any Part, Class or paragraph in Schedule 2 … should not be carried out unless permission is granted for it on an application, the Secretary of State or (as the case may be) the local planning authority, may make a direction under this paragraph that the permission granted by article 3 does not apply to — (a) all or any development of the Part, Class or paragraph in question in an area specified in the direction; or (b) any particular development, falling within that Part, Class or paragraph, which is specified in the direction, and the direction must specify that it is made under this paragraph.

GPDO 2015, article 4(1) — legislation.gov.uk, revised text to 9 April 2026. The words omitted at the ellipsis are the exception for Class DA of Part 4, Class CA of Part 7 and Classes K, KA and M of Part 17, which cannot be withdrawn at all.

Three features of that wording govern everything below.

It prohibits nothing. It withdraws a permission; the consequence is procedural. Government guidance: an Article 4 direction “only means that a particular development cannot be carried out under permitted development and therefore needs a planning application”.

Planning Practice Guidance, When is permission required?, Paragraph 040 Reference ID 13-040-20140306 — gov.uk

It operates only on Schedule 2. It must identify a Part, Class or paragraph of Schedule 2. For windows and doors on a house that is almost always Class A of Part 1 — “the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwellinghouse”.

Nobody has to approve it. In England the authority makes its own direction and notifies the Secretary of State afterwards: “The Secretary of State does not have to approve article 4 directions, and will only intervene when there are clear reasons for doing so.” Article 4(2)–(3) separately preserve prior-approval development, emergency development and much statutory-undertaker maintenance whatever a direction says.

PPG, Paragraph 050 Reference ID 13-050-20140306

The one thing a direction cannot do

An Article 4 direction cannot make non-development into development. This is the most important point on the page. The mechanism is four steps, each in the legislation:

1. Permission is only ever needed for “development” — section 57(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, “development” being defined by section 55(1).
2. Section 55(2)(a) takes some works outside “development” altogether — works of maintenance, improvement or other alteration which “(i) affect only the interior of the building, or (ii) do not materially affect the external appearance of the building”.
3. Article 3 of the GPDO grants permission only for development described in Schedule 2. It says nothing about works that are not development, because those need no permission.
4. Article 4(1) withdraws only “the permission granted by article 3.” If the works were never development, there was never an article 3 permission, and there is nothing to withdraw.

Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s.55 and s.57; GPDO 2015, article 4(1)

Applying a direction to genuine repair, to repainting, or to in-situ reglazing that does not materially affect the external appearance of the building would therefore be outside the power the Order confers — ultra vires. Whether a particular reglazing job clears that threshold is the fact-and-degree question below, not something this analysis answers for you.

The High Court has confirmed the order of the analysis: removal of permitted development rights “by operation of a direction made under article 4” appears at step (x) of the sequence in Dharmeshkumar, after the section 55 question has been answered against the owner.

Dharmeshkumar v SSHCLG & LB Brent [2025] EWHC 25123 (Admin) at [68] — National Archives Find Case Law

Some authorities write the point into the direction. Wandsworth’s Magdalen Park direction withdraws Class C of Part 2 (painting the exterior), then adds:

PROVISO: The restriction on this form of permitted development imposed by this Direction does not extend to the re-painting of window frames external doors rainwater goods and other exterior items which are already painted

Wandsworth, Magdalen Park Conservation Area Article 4 Direction 2023, 8 February 2023; a second proviso exempts “the routine maintenance of existing means of enclosure using materials of the same type”

That is declaratory of the statutory position, not a concession. Most directions — including the RBKC and South Kesteven examples below — have no such proviso, and its absence does not enlarge them.

“Article 4(2) directions” no longer exist in England

You will still be told yours is an “Article 4(2) direction because it is a conservation area”. In England that has been wrong since 6 April 2010.

The 1995 Order had two powers. Article 4(1) was general; article 4(2) was conservation-area specific, confined to the closed list in article 4(5) — Class A of Part 1 works fronting a “relevant location”, roof slopes, external doors, hard surfaces, antennas, chimneys, enclosures, exterior painting, demolition of an enclosure. Articles 4 to 6 were substituted for England on 6 April 2010 and the article 4(2) power went. The GPDO 2015 has one power, article 4(1).

GPDO 1995 as made, article 4(2) and 4(5); arts 4–6 substituted for England by SI 2010/654 arts 1(1), 2(2), recorded as Textual Amendment F1 to article 4 of SI 1995/418

The old class list survives almost verbatim as Schedule 3 paragraph 2(3) of the GPDO 2015, where it now defines when a conservation area direction may take immediate effect. The conservation-area distinction became procedural, not substantive.

Old directions are still live. RBKC’s Direction No. 96 is expressly “MADE UNDER ARTICLE 4(1) TO WHICH ARTICLE 5 APPLIES” — 1995 Order language — and was confirmed under seal on 3 July 2013. Continuity rests on section 17(2)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1978, which is the reasoning West Suffolk publishes: “under Section 17 of the Interpretation Act 1978, all of the restrictions in the Article 4 Direction have affect as if made under the … 2015 [Order]”. A direction sealed in 1975 can still bite.

Wales is different, and later. Wales still operates the 1995 Order, and its article 4(2) power was only omitted on 20 October 2022 by SI 2022/997 article 2(2)(b), with a new Schedule 2A procedure inserted. Welsh material written before late 2022 referring to “article 4(2) directions” was describing the law as it then stood.

RBKC, Direction No. 96; West Suffolk; Interpretation Act 1978 s.17

Immediate and non-immediate directions

Article 4(4) sends the procedure to Schedule 3. Which route was used tells you when the direction bit and whether compensation was ever on the table.

GPDO 2015, Schedule 3; PPG Paragraphs 044 and 045, Reference IDs 13-044-20140306 and 13-045-20140306 — in all cases the authority “must have already begun the consultation processes towards the making a non-immediate article 4 direction”

The para 2(3) list is where conservation areas get special procedural treatment. For windows it covers Class A of Part 1 where any part fronts a relevant location; Class C where the roof slope fronts one; Class D where the external door fronts one; Class G, but only where the work is “the installation, alteration or replacement of a chimney on a dwellinghouse” — flues and soil and vent pipes are not on this list, even though Class G itself covers them; and Class C of Part 2, exterior painting. Paragraph 2(10) defines “relevant location” as “a highway, waterway or open space” — which is why so many directions stop at the front elevation. Paragraphs 2(3)–(4) also insulate conservation-area and listed-building-curtilage directions from central modification.

A direction is not retrospective: “Article 4 directions cannot prevent development which has been commenced, or which has already been carried out.”

PPG, Paragraph 046 Reference ID 13-046-20140306

When policy says a direction should be made

Paragraph 54 requires that, in cases other than change of use to residential, directions “be limited to situations where an Article 4 direction is necessary to protect local amenity or the well-being of the area”, and “in all cases, be based on robust evidence, and apply to the smallest geographical area possible”. That second limb governs window and door directions, and it is why almost every direction you will read is confined to named streets and to elevations fronting a highway or open space. A confirmed direction may last indefinitely, but authorities are expected to “monitor any article 4 directions regularly to make certain that the original reasons the direction was made remain valid”.

NPPF (December 2024, amended 7 February 2025) paragraph 54 — gov.uk; same formula at PPG Paragraphs 037 and 038, Reference IDs 13-037-20210820 and 13-038-20210820, both revision date 20 08 2021; monitoring at Paragraph 049 Reference ID 13-049-20140306

Pending, as at 28 July 2026: the December 2025 NPPF consultation proposed draft policy DM10, which “replaces paragraph 54 of the current Framework” with “a more flexible policy” while keeping the robust-evidence and smallest-area requirements. It ran from 16 December 2025 to 10 March 2026; no response or revised Framework had been published when this page was reviewed, and we could not verify DM10’s final wording.

Compensation: the answer is almost always no

The trigger is not the direction. Section 108(1) of the 1990 Act engages only where permission granted by a development order is withdrawn and permission for that development is then “refused or is granted subject to conditions other than those imposed by that order”. Section 107 is the measure: abortive expenditure, or other loss “directly attributable” to the withdrawal. Making a direction gives rise to no claim at all.

The 12-month notice route switches it off entirely. Section 108(3C) disapplies compensation where the permission was for development “of a prescribed description”, withdrawn “in the prescribed manner”, where “notice of the withdrawal was published in the prescribed manner not less than 12 months or more than the prescribed period before the withdrawal took effect”, and the development had not started before the notice was published. The prescribed matters line up exactly on windows:

TCPA 1990 s.108(2A) and (3B)–(3C), s.107; SI 2015/598 regs 2–4; PPG Paragraph 042 Reference ID 13-042-20140306 restates both triggers

So an authority using the non-immediate procedure, with notice published not less than 12 months and not more than 2 years before the direction takes effect, incurs no compensation liability at all for householder Part 1 rights. That is why well-advised authorities build a 12-month lead-in, and why “you can claim compensation for losing your permitted development rights” is nearly always wrong. Section 108(2A) narrows it further: for prescribed development in England withdrawn by direction, section 108 applies at all only where the planning application is made within 12 months of the direction taking effect.

Four real directions, and how differently they are drafted

Most directions never use the word “windows.” They withdraw Class A of Part 1 in the Order’s own language. Searching the PDF for “window”, finding nothing, and concluding you are unaffected is a serious mistake. And almost all are limited by elevation and by street — to parts fronting a highway, footpath or open space, often to named house numbers rather than a whole conservation area.

Wandsworth withdraws Part 1 Classes A, B, C, D, F, G and H, Part 2 Classes A, B and C and Part 11 Class C, across named ranges on eleven streets, with the repainting proviso quoted above. RBKC goes further the other way: it withdraws exterior painting “except in accordance with the Third Schedule”, which prescribes colours address by address and distinguishes a stuccoed facade from “ornamental stucco detailing — This includes cornices, window surrounds, string courses, architraves, balconies”; Nos. 1–44 Royal Crescent are limited to BS 4800 08 B 17 Honeybeige, Fawn or Sandstone with white detailing. Stamford covers unlisted buildings residential and commercial, withdraws chimney and flue works without the “fronting” limit, and restates the article 4(2) carve-out for development given prior approval before the direction came into force and completed within three years.

How far a direction reaches is a matter of drafting, not principle. Bath & North East Somerset says its directions “usually … only relate to the parts of the building which face a street, public footpath or open space, but sometimes they also cover work at the rear”; Blackpool’s Stanley Park direction is drawn to manage “changes to all visible elevations including windows and doors”. Do not assume the back of your house is outside yours until you have read it.

Bath & North East Somerset (published 20 February 2020, updated 28 February 2020); Blackpool

How to check whether one applies to your address

The government’s Planning Data platform publishes national datasets, and both are self-declared incomplete. The Article 4 direction area dataset held 7,152 areas when we consulted it, under the banner “The data may be incomplete and not yet cover all of England”. The Conservation area dataset held 11,007 areas from 158 data providers, collector last run 27 July 2026, and warns that it “should be treated as a work in progress, and is currently incomplete. It also contains a number of duplicate conservation areas we are working to reconcile.”

planning.data.gov.uk, Article 4 direction area and Conservation area datasets, as at 28 July 2026

Useful for a first look; never sufficient for a decision. The reliable order is:

1. The authority’s own Article 4 register and constraints map — authoritative, because the authority made the direction. Quality varies enormously: RBKC publishes a numbered, property-level table with a PDF per direction; others publish one boundary map and nothing else.
2. Get the direction itself, not the summary. Check which Parts and Classes are withdrawn, which elevations, and whether your address is in the schedule. If Class A of Part 1 is withdrawn and your elevation fronts a highway, footpath or open space, windows are caught even though the word never appears.
3. Ask in writing, naming the address, and ask which classes are withdrawn on which elevations. The Planning Portal’s advice on doors and windows is that “in all these cases, you are strongly advised to check with your local planning authority before carrying out any work.”
4. On a purchase, search local land charges and read the CON29 reply — with a caveat. The gov.uk service lists “conservation areas” among the restrictions it records, and HM Land Registry’s Practice Guide 79 lists conservation areas, listed buildings, tree preservation orders and planning and enforcement notices as common local land charges. It does not list Article 4 directions, and we could not verify that a direction is itself a registrable local land charge; practice may vary. Do not assume an LLC1 will reveal one. PG79 also warns that an unregistered charge “will still affect a purchaser in just the same way as it affected the original owner”, though a purchaser who searched first is generally entitled to compensation for loss caused by a search that missed one.
5. If the work is already done, apply under section 191. It makes operations lawful where no enforcement action may be taken, “whether because they did not involve development or require planning permission” or because time has expired — the way to put the argument above on the record. See enforcement, time limits and selling the house.

gov.uk, Search for local land charges (free to search, £15 for an official certificate, “Not all data is on this service yet”); HM Land Registry Practice Guide 79; Planning Portal

Two traps

A direction is irrelevant to a flat. Article 2(1) of the GPDO provides that “dwellinghouse”, for Part 1 purposes, “does not include a building containing one or more flats, or a flat contained within such a building”. A flat, maisonette or house converted into flats has no Part 1 rights to withdraw, anywhere in England, direction or no direction. The only planning question is whether the works are development at all — exactly the argument fought in Haringey, over a ground-floor flat in a converted house in the Bowes Park Conservation Area. See windows in a flat or maisonette.

“No Article 4 direction” does not mean “normal permitted development”. A conservation area is article 2(3) land, which carries restrictions of its own: Class B (roof additions, including dormers) is not permitted on article 2(3) land at all under B.1(f), and paragraph A.2 removes the Class A right for cladding and certain extensions. A.2 says nothing about windows in a wall — which is why the question is never “am I in a conservation area?” but “which classes have been withdrawn at my address, and by what?”

GPDO 2015, article 2(1) and 2(3), Schedule 2 Part 1 (A.2, B.1(f)) and Schedule 1

The other three nations, in one paragraph

Never read an English Article 4 statement across a border. Wales still uses the 1995 Order, with a Schedule 2A procedure since 20 October 2022 and the power held by “the Welsh Ministers or the appropriate local planning authority”. In Scotland, article 4(3) of the 1992 Order provides that a planning authority’s direction “shall require the approval of the Secretary of State” — read as the Scottish Ministers — with a statement of reasons, unless it relates only to a listed building or its curtilage. In Northern Ireland, article 4(2) of the 2015 Order requires a council’s direction to have “the approval of the Department”, again with reasons and the same listed-building exception. England, needing no approval at all, is the outlier. NPPF paragraph 54 and the English guidance apply in England only, and we could not verify the policy test or the compensation provisions in any of the other three nations, so we state none.

SI 1992/223 art 4; SR 2015/70 art 4; Welsh amendments by SI 2022/997 arts 2(2)–(3)

What to do, in order

1. Ask whether the works are development at all. Interior-only work, and work that does not materially affect external appearance, sits outside every direction. Reglazing in the existing sash is the strongest case: see double glazing in a conservation area.
2. Only then look for the direction — and read it: the Class, the streets, the elevations.
3. If it bites, apply properly. A direction changes the question from “is it permitted?” to “will an officer accept it?”, which is a higher bar. See applying for windows: drawings, fees and what officers look at.
4. If money turns on the answer, buy certainty — section 192 before the order, section 191 afterwards. An installer’s assurance and a FENSA certificate bind nobody on planning.
5. Do not count on compensation. If the direction used the non-immediate procedure with a lead-in of 12 months or more, there is no claim.

Terms of art are defined in the glossary; every source is listed below and on our sources page.