Article 4 directions and solar

What the order says

Article 4 of the GPDO allows the Secretary of State or a local planning authority to direct that permitted development does not apply to:

all or any development of the Part, Class or paragraph in question in an area specified

or to:

any particular development, falling within that Part, Class or paragraph, which is specified

Two things follow from that wording, and they are the two things people most often get wrong.

A direction is targeted. It names the Part, Class or paragraph it removes. A direction covering Part 1 — extensions, roof alterations, outbuildings — does not touch Part 14. So “there’s an Article 4 here” is not by itself an answer about solar.

A direction is geographic. It applies to a specified area, which may be a whole conservation area, a few streets, or a single property.

How to check

Ask the local planning authority, in writing, and be specific. The question to ask is not “is there an Article 4 direction on my house”. It is:

Does any Article 4 direction affecting this property withdraw permitted development rights under Part 14 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015?

That wording matters because a direction may cover several parts and not the one you need.

Check the authority’s website and local plan documents, but do not rely on them alone. Directions can be decades old and predate the authority’s digital records.

Check your conveyancing pack if you bought recently. Local searches routinely disclose Article 4 directions, so the answer may already be in a file you own.

Do not rely on your installer. Most will not check, and the risk of an unlawful installation sits with you.

What happens if one applies

You apply for planning permission in the ordinary way, and the application is decided on its planning merits.

This is a materially better position than it sounds. The authority is not asked whether to grant you a right — it is asked whether this development is acceptable, and solar has substantial policy support in the planning system. A well-sited array on a rear roof slope is not a difficult application, even in a conservation area.

What changes is time, cost and certainty: weeks of determination period, the risk of refusal, and a design that may need adjusting.

There should be no fee where the application is required only because permitted development rights were withdrawn by an Article 4 direction. Say so when you apply.

Compensation, and why you probably will not get any

Section 108 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides for compensation where planning permission granted by a development order is withdrawn, and a subsequent application for the same development is then refused or granted subject to different conditions. An application must be made within 12 months of the withdrawal taking effect.

But the entitlement is excluded where notice of the withdrawal was published not less than 12 months before it came into effect.

The practical consequence is that authorities give at least twelve months’ notice, and by doing so extinguish the compensation liability. That is not a loophole so much as the design of the provision — it trades a delay for the money.

So: if you are within a consultation period on a proposed direction that would cover solar, the useful window is now, by responding to the consultation. Once the direction is in force, compensation is unlikely to be a realistic route.

If a direction is proposed for your area

Directions follow a procedure set out in Schedule 3 to the order, which includes publicity and an opportunity to make representations.

Worth saying plainly: a direction covering solar is a decision that your area’s appearance matters more than its residents’ ability to generate their own electricity without asking. That is a legitimate judgement for an authority to make, and it is also a judgement that can be argued with — on the evidence of what modern installations actually look like, on the availability of less visible roof slopes, and on the authority’s own climate commitments.

If you care about it, the consultation is where that argument belongs.

Related restrictions that are not Article 4

Three things get mistaken for Article 4 directions:

Listed building status. A separate regime entirely, and a stricter one. See listed buildings.

Planning conditions on a previous permission. A condition on the original permission for a house or estate can remove permitted development rights for that property. Common on new-build estates, and it will be in your deeds or your conveyancing pack rather than on a map.

Restrictive covenants. Private law between landowners, nothing to do with planning, and enforceable by whoever has the benefit of them. A covenant can prohibit what planning permits.