Article 4 Directions

Central Activities Zone (CAZ)

The council confirmed a non-immediate Article 4 Direction to protect office land uses in Southwark’s Central Activities Zone (CAZ) in 2018. This will prevent the harm of office to residential permitted development rights in the CAZ in recognition of the geographic, economic and administrative benefits that the CAZ has on the London and UK economy.

The Article 4 Direction removes permitted development rights for the change of use of B1a (offices) to residential (C3). Planning permission will continue to be required for any proposed changes from office premises identified in the Article 4 Direction.

Article 4 Directions 2021

Further to the existing Article 4 Direction, Southwark Council confirmed non-immediate and immediate Article 4 directions to remove the right for commercial premises in the Central Activities Zone to be converted to residential dwellings from Class E on 27 January 2022.

The first Article 4 Direction is non-immediate and will come into effect on 1 August 2022 as the existing Article 4 Direction (Class O) expires on 31 July 2022. This relates to changes of use from office use (Class E) to residential (Class C3), under Class MA in the Central Activities Zone.

The second Article 4 Direction is immediate and came into effect on 1 August 2021. This withdraws the permitted development rights under Class MA. This means changes of use from Commercial, Business and Leisure (Class E(a-f),(g)(ii-iii) – all except offices) to residential will need planning permission in the Central Activities Zone.

The third Article 4 Direction is non-immediate and will come into effect on 1 August 2022. This withdraws the permitted development rights under Class ZA. This means demolition of commercial or residential buildings and replacement with a single dwelling housing or block of flats will need planning permission in the Central Activities Zone.

You can find the related documents for the Article 4 Directions below, including the planning committee report which sets out the reasons for the Article 4 Direction.

Related documents

• Planning Committee Report 2022 – Confirmation of Article 4 Directions
• Schedule of the updated site allocation references within the Southwark Plan 2022
• Consultation Report 2022
• Equalities Impact Assessment 2022
• Planning Committee Report 2021 - Evidence report
• Maps relating to Article 4 Directions 2021
• Equalities Impact Assessment 2021
• GLA Strategic evidence 2021
• Article 4 Direction (Class MA – Class E(a-f)(g)(ii-iii)) – immediate ^{(PDF, 7.7mb)}
• Article 4 Direction (Class MA – Class E(g)(i) offices) – non-immediate ^{(PDF, 7.6mb)}
• Article 4 Direction (Class ZA) – non-immediate ^{(PDF, 3.8mb)}
• Planning Committee Report Confirmation of Article 4 Direction 2018 ^{(PDF, 222kb)}
• Equalities Analysis 2018 ^{(PDF, 155kb)}
• Strategic evidence to support London Borough Article 4 Directions 2018 ^{(PDF, 1.4mb)}
• Article 4 Direction (Class O) 2018 ^{(PDF, 2.5mb)}

Page last updated: 01 August 2024