The definition, as GOV.UK words it
GOV.UK's planning guidance explains the idea in a single sentence. An Article 4 direction is a direction under article 4 of the General Permitted Development Order, and it lets the Secretary of State or a local planning authority "withdraw specified permitted development rights across a defined area".
Read slowly, the sentence carries three points. A direction is made by a council or by government, not by a neighbour or a roofer. It removes only the rights it names, so a direction about front windows may leave the roof alone. And it applies to an area drawn on a map, which is why two similar houses can end up with different paperwork.
A direction does not ban work. It means that a job which would otherwise be allowed without applying needs an application first, and the council then decides it on its merits.
For roofs, the right in question is usually Class C, the class that covers altering a roof, including a new covering on a house. Under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, works that leave the outside looking materially the same are not development at all. A change of material is where a direction starts to matter.
What East Kent councils publish about roofs
Councils word their directions differently, and only some say anything about roofs. This is what each of the districts we work in puts on its website.
| Council | What it publishes |
|---|---|
| Swale | Faversham's direction covers roof coverings at the front, on the sides that face a public highway |
| Dover | Directions can reach roof alterations on whichever side of a home faces the street, water or public open space |
| Thanet | Pegwell, plus Ramsgate and its Marina extension |
| Canterbury | Areas shown on the council's own map |
| Folkestone & Hythe | Ask the council |
| Ashford | Directions shown on its interactive map |
Thanet's page names those three conservation areas but does not set out the classes street by street, so the right step there is to check with Thanet District Council. Canterbury and Folkestone & Hythe hold the detail on their own pages, so ask the council itself rather than a neighbour, and ask early in the planning of the job.
Wherever the table gives no roof detail, ask the district council whether your address falls inside a direction.
Checking your own address
Whether your house sits inside a direction is a local question, and the council that made the direction is the one to ask. A short email or phone call to its planning team does it. A sensible order is:
- Work out which council covers your address, from Thanet and Canterbury to Swale, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe or Ashford.
- Ask if your address falls inside an Article 4 direction, and ask for the direction itself, not a summary of it.
- Read which rights it removes. A direction about windows or boundary walls may say nothing at all about the roof.
- If it does name roof work, ask whether your job counts, particularly if the covering is going to change.
- Keep the reply with your quote so that everyone works from the same answer.
Do this early. A reply from a council can take time, and a scaffold licence from Kent County Council needs five working days' notice of its own, so the dates stack up quickly.
If the answer is that an application is needed, the start date waits for it. We would sooner tell you that on the first visit than begin a re-roof the planning team has not seen.
Related checks that are not the same thing
An Article 4 direction is easy to confuse with other designations that a house might carry. Each one is checked separately, and several can apply to the same address at once.
- A conservation area changes which permitted development rights apply. The steps for finding out are in how to check whether your house is in a conservation area.
- A flat has no householder rights for a direction to withdraw in the first place, as our answer on flats and roofs explains.
- A listed building needs listed building consent before any work that changes its character, whatever a direction says.
For the wider picture on rights and applications, the guide to planning permission for roof work in East Kent sets out the questions in order.
If you are weighing a repair against a new roof, the roofing we do across Margate and Thanet begins with a survey, and a direction found early changes the plan rather than stopping it. Mention any letter from the council about your street when you get in touch.
