Article 4 and windows in Reigate's conservation areas

What an Article 4 direction does

Ordinary houses in England can replace their windows without planning permission if the new ones look similar. An Article 4 direction takes that right away. Reigate and Banstead served these directions on most of its conservation areas to stop the slow loss of original detail, house by house.

The 2026 draft appraisals for Reigate Town Centre and Somers Road describe the effect in the same words: any alteration facing a highway or open space needs planning permission unless it is a like-for-like repair, and that includes changing timber windows to uPVC or aluminium, or changing their style. The Wray Common draft says the same applies to many of its houses.

Which windows it reaches

The words that matter are "facing a highway or open space". A villa on Raglan Road has its front to the road. A house on Wray Common Road may also face the common, which counts as open space. A rear bedroom over a private garden does not face either, so on most houses it stays outside the direction.

That is why many Reigate jobs end up split: timber or a close match at the front, and a cheaper frame at the back. Each elevation is a separate decision.

What the council looks for

The appraisals ask for original windows to be repaired where possible, and for replacements to match the originals in material and design. They name uPVC as an alien material on these streets. Policy NHE9 of the 2019 Development Management Plan adds the general test: proposals should preserve, and where possible enhance, the conservation area.

In practice an application for timber sashes that copy the existing glazing bars, horns and sill detail is the straightforward one. An application to put uPVC on the front of a Somers Road villa starts against the council's own written guidance.

How the application runs

1. The installer surveys and draws the existing and proposed windows, with sections through the frame and glazing bars.
2. You apply to Reigate and Banstead as householder. The statutory period for deciding a householder application is eight weeks.
3. Manufacture starts only after approval, so the frames are made to the approved drawing.
4. Windows on the garden side, which need no permission, can be fitted while the front waits.

Houses that already lost their originals

Plenty of conservation-area houses had uPVC fitted before the direction or without asking. The council cannot reverse changes made before designation, but replacing those frames is still a change it controls, and it will usually want the new windows to move back towards the original pattern rather than repeat the uPVC.

Outside Reigate town

The Merstham Village appraisal records a number of Article 4 directions on particular properties. The Kingswood and Redstone Hill drafts state there are none. In Mole Valley, which covers Betchworth and Buckland, the directions are confined to parts of Dorking, Brockham and Leatherhead. Listed buildings need consent everywhere, whatever the area.

Check any address on the council's map at whereilive.reigate-banstead.gov.uk. The appraisals quoted here were drafts in 2026 and boundaries are under review.