Westminster Planning Permission: The 10 Article 4 Directions

Westminster planning permission questions usually start with a national answer found online: that you can dig a basement, convert an empty shop into a flat or repaint your front door without asking anyone. In Westminster that answer is often wrong. The council has used Article 4 directions to switch off those national “permitted development” rights across the whole city for some work and in specific streets for others, and much of the city sits in one of its 56 conservation areas, where the national rights were narrower to begin with.

We went through the council’s Article 4 directions page (last updated 13 November 2025) and the directions themselves. This is what each one removes, where it applies and when it came in.

What an Article 4 direction does

Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission for certain small or routine changes, set out in the General Permitted Development Order 2015. An Article 4 direction, named after the article of that order, lets a council withdraw some of those rights in a defined area. The work is not banned. It simply needs a planning application, so the council gets to judge it.

The directions in force in Westminster

The council’s page says permitted development rights have been removed in eight conservation areas but lists seven direction documents. If your street is not on this list, check the council’s interactive Article 4 map before relying on it.

1. Basements: every one needs planning permission

The basement direction applies to “the entire area of the City of Westminster”. It removes the national right to enlarge, improve or alter a house “by way of basement development, lightwells or any other development below the dwellinghouse or its curtilage”. The council made it on 22 July 2015 and confirmed it on 4 July 2016, and it came into force on 31 July 2016.

So any basement dig under a house in Westminster needs a planning application, and that application is then judged against Policy 50 of the City Plan 2019 to 2040, in the version adopted in January 2026. The policy supports basements that:

• extend beneath no more than 50% of the garden, though on small sites where the garden is 8m or less at its longest point a basement may extend up to 4m from the original building;
• leave a margin of undeveloped garden around the whole site boundary;
• are no more than one storey below the lowest original floor, with exceptions only on large sites with good construction access;
• leave at least one metre of soil, plus a 200mm drainage layer, on top; and
• reach no more than 1.8m under the pavement or road, keeping at least 900mm between the road surface and the vault.

Applications need a structural methodology statement and self-certification from a suitably qualified engineer.

2. Turning shops or offices into flats

Nationally, Class MA of the permitted development order lets a building in Class E (shops, offices, cafes, gyms, clinics and similar commercial uses) become homes after a prior approval check rather than a full planning application. Westminster has blocked that in two stages.

Inside the Central Activities Zone. The council’s July 2021 direction covered most of the CAZ. In a letter of 27 July 2022, the then Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clark said it was not targeted enough and modified it. It now applies only to:

• the West End and Knightsbridge international centres and the West End Retail and Leisure Special Policy Area;
• the Soho, Savile Row, Harley Street, and Mayfair and St James’s special policy areas;
• the Victoria, Paddington and Tottenham Court Road opportunity areas;
• the Praed Street and Church Street/Edgware Road district centres;
• named retail clusters including Marylebone High Street, Victoria Street, Piccadilly, Jermyn Street, Great Portland Street and South Audley Street/Mount Street; and
• local centres including Pimlico, Lupus Street, Strutton Ground, Elizabeth Street, Lisson Grove and Shepherd Market.

The government’s direction states that any part of those designations outside the CAZ boundary is not covered by it.

Outside the Central Activities Zone. A second direction, made on 3 December 2021 and confirmed on 5 December 2022, applies to Westminster’s town centre hierarchy outside the CAZ, shown on the maps attached to it.

In practice, if a shop or office is in a named centre or cluster anywhere in Westminster, changing it to a flat needs full planning permission. Outside those centres, the national right may still apply, so check the maps.

3. Queen’s Park Estate: the most detailed street direction

The Queen’s Park Estate direction in W10 is the one residents most often run into, because it covers most of the Victorian workers’ cottages on the estate, street by street, from Alperton Street to Third Avenue. It was made on 29 October 1992 and approved by the Secretary of State on 12 November 1992, replacing a 1981 direction. It takes away the right to do any of these without permission:

• alter the appearance of the front, or any elevation visible from the road, including front doors and windows;
• add a porch on the front or on any side facing the road;
• build or change front boundary walls, fences and gates, or any visible from the road;
• change the roof material or colour;
• paint the front, or any side facing the road;
• paint front boundary walls, fences and gates;
• put an oil tank, bin store or meter cupboard where it can be seen from the road; and
• fit or replace a satellite dish visible from the road.

Painting your front door a new colour on the estate is, strictly, development that needs permission.

The other conservation area directions, at Abbey Gardens, Bridstow Place, Bristol Gardens, Moncorvo Close, Relton Mews and Sussex Gardens, remove rights for “certain minor alterations”. Each is a short document that names the exact houses, and it is worth reading the one for your street, linked from the council page.

The bigger trap: you probably live in a flat

Article 4 directions get the attention, but the rule that affects most Westminster households is national. Householder permitted development rights, the ones for rear extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings, apply to houses. They do not apply to flats.

At the 2021 census, about 90% of Westminster households lived in a flat, maisonette or apartment: 70.2% in purpose-built blocks, 16.1% in converted or shared houses, and the rest in other converted or commercial buildings, according to ONS table TS044. Only about 10% lived in a detached, semi-detached or terraced house. For nine in ten households, the permitted development question never arises.

Conservation areas and listed buildings

There are 56 conservation areas in Westminster, according to the council. Even without an Article 4 direction, national permitted development rights are narrower there: for example, roof extensions such as dormers, side extensions and external cladding on houses are not permitted development in a conservation area. Demolishing most buildings in a conservation area needs planning permission too.

Westminster also has thousands of listed buildings. Listed building consent is separate from planning permission and is needed for any work, inside or out, that affects a listed building’s character, including many changes that need no planning permission at all. Doing that work without consent is a criminal offence.

Short lets: the 90-night rule

One more London-only rule catches Westminster homeowners. Under a change made by the Deregulation Act 2015, a home in London can be let as short-term accommodation for up to 90 nights in a calendar year without planning permission. Go beyond 90 nights and the council treats it as a change of use that needs permission, which Westminster says it enforces against.

How to check before you start

1. Look up your address on the council’s Article 4 interactive map, linked from its Article 4 page.
2. Check whether you are in a conservation area and whether the building is listed.
3. If you are in a flat, assume external changes need planning permission.
4. If in doubt, apply for a Lawful Development Certificate. It is the formal way to get the council to confirm that a project does not need planning permission, and buyers’ solicitors often ask for one later.

For how the council decides applications once they are in, see how Westminster’s planning decisions are delegated, and for current applications and decisions, our Westminster planning news.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need planning permission for a basement in Westminster? Yes, for any basement under a house. A city-wide Article 4 direction in force since 31 July 2016 removed the national permitted development right for basements, lightwells and other development below a house or its garden. The council’s City Plan then limits most basements to one storey and 50% of the garden.

Can I convert a shop or office into a flat in Westminster without planning permission? Not in most commercial areas. Two Article 4 directions remove the national Class MA right in the West End, the named special policy areas, opportunity areas, town centres, retail clusters and local centres. Outside those mapped areas the national prior approval route may still be available.

What does Article 4 mean on Queen’s Park Estate? The 1992 direction means most estate homes need planning permission to alter or paint the front, add a porch, change front walls or roof materials, or put a satellite dish, bin store or meter cupboard where it can be seen from the road.

Do flats in Westminster have permitted development rights? Householder permitted development rights, such as rear extensions and loft conversions, apply only to houses, not flats. About 90% of Westminster households lived in flats at the 2021 census, so for most residents external alterations need planning permission regardless of Article 4.

How do I find out if my property is covered by an Article 4 direction? Use the Article 4 interactive map on the Westminster City Council website, which lets you search by address and links to each direction. The council’s Article 4 page also lists every direction with its date.

How long can I let my Westminster home on Airbnb without planning permission? Up to 90 nights in a calendar year. Beyond that, short-term letting in London is a change of use that needs planning permission, under rules introduced by the Deregulation Act 2015.