Article 4 Directions

Railway Arches

The council confirmed Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights relating to the conversion of railway arches to residential dwellings on 27 October 2016. This is to ensure residential amenity is protected.

The Article 4 Direction removes the right for railway arches to be converted to residential dwellings (Class C3) from:

• betting shops and payday loan shops or laundrette (sui generis) - relates to Permitted Development Right Class M
• B1a (office) - relates to Permitted Development Right Class O

If you want to convert your railway arch from any of the above uses to residential dwellings, you'll now need to apply to the council for planning permission. You'll need to do this by submitting a planning application and the proposed development will be assessed against the policies in our development plan and any supporting guidance.

Article 4 Directions 2021

Further to the existing Article 4 Directions, Southwark Council confirmed non-immediate and immediate Article 4 directions to remove the right for railway arches 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 railway arches.

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 railway arches.

You can find the related documents for the Railway Arches Article 4 Direction 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)}
• Planning Committee Report 2016 ^{(PDF, 152kb)}
• Map of Railway Arches in Southwark subject to Article 4 Direction ^{(PDF, 2.1mb)}
• Article 4 Direction - class M ^{(PDF, 4.6mb)}
• Article 4 Direction - class O ^{(PDF, 4.6mb)}
• Equalities Analysis 2016 ^{(PDF, 141kb)}

Page last updated: 07 March 2024