Article 4 Direction - Queen's Park conservation area

Information sheet reference number

EN/CR/IN/A4/49

The direction

An Article 4(1) Direction has been introduced to provide additional town planning controls for dwellings in the Queen’s Park Conservation Area. This takes effect on 4 June 2022.

Residents in conservation areas generally anticipate that there will be additional planning controls over and above those that may apply outside conservation areas. Now, in any conservation area, an owner has to obtain the council’s consent before carrying out demolition works and must give notice before pruning or felling a tree. Planning permission is required for building roof extensions and dormers, applying stone, timber or tile cladding to any façade or erecting a satellite dish on a chimney or on the front façade or a roof slope that faces onto and is visible from the street. Greater restrictions also apply to the size of rear extensions that a house owner may build without planning permission.

Until now however windows, doors, roofs and boundary walls, which are the key architectural elements of any house, could be changed without the need for planning permission; and the appearance of the conservation area could be harmed as a consequence.

Under the Article 4 Direction planning permission is now required for works to house frontages and any street-facing side elevation as follows:

• the improvement or alteration of a dwelling, including replacing or altering windows and doors
• alterations to the roof of a dwelling, including changing the roof covering material or the addition of roof lights
• the erection or construction of a porch
• the provision or replacement of a hard surface to the front of a house
• the installation, alteration or replacement of a chimney stack, flue or soil and vent pipe

In addition, the following works would now require planning permission in the case of street-facing elevations to any building in the conservation area:

• the demolition, alteration or erection of a boundary wall, fence, railings or a gate
• painting the exterior of a dwelling, where the building has not previously been painted, or where a significant change in colour is proposed, or painting a mural

The following colours of smooth matt masonry paint have been approved for use without the need to apply for planning permission. Window frames, bargeboards and timber balconies and porches must be painted white. Iron balconies and railings must be painted black.

British Standard BS 4800 numbers:

• 00 E 55 White
• 08 B 15 Magnolia
• 08 B 17 Fawn / Sandstone
• 08 C 31 Blush stone / Yellowish Cream
• 10 B 15 Pale Cream / Ivory
• 10 B 17 Greystone
• 10 C 31 Champagne / Buttermilk
• 10 C 33 Pollen / Vanilla

Permitted development rights for works to rear elevations and for rear extensions and outbuildings etc remain unchanged. Planning permission is still not required to carry out repairs to a property (unless a listed building) or to replace features exactly ‘like for like’ for example recovering a concrete tiled roof with concrete tiles or replacing timber sliding sash windows with matching timber sliding sash windows. A satellite dish can still be fixed to the roof or rear façade, subject to the national restrictions. These permitted development rights have not changed.

The above details provide a summary only. You should check with the Planning Service and inform your architect, solicitor or builder that you live in a Conservation Area and that there is an Article 4 Direction in place, before carrying out any works. If inappropriate alterations are carried out without permission, enforcement action could be taken. The Direction is revealed when a ‘search’ is made, where a property is for sale.

The Direction was made on 26 May 2021 and was confirmed on 22 September 2021. It comes into effect on 4 June 2022.