Planning permission in Rother
Rother District Council decides planning applications in Rother. This page shows the protected areas that affect what homeowners can build without planning permission, and the planning data Rother publishes.
Conservation areas
Rother has 10 conservation areas. In a conservation area, permitted development rights are reduced: side extensions, two-storey extensions, loft dormers and cladding all need planning permission, and many councils add Article 4 directions on top.
- Battle
- Bexhill Old Town
- Bexhill Town Centre
- Burwash
- Northiam
- Robertsbridge & Northbridge Street
- Rye
- Sedlescombe
- Ticehurst
- Winchelsea
Read more: extensions, loft dormers, garden rooms and solar panels in a conservation area.
Article 4 directions
Rother has published 61 Article 4 areas. Inside them, some permitted development rights are removed, so work that would normally be allowed needs planning permission.
The rights they remove most often:
- Walls, fences and gates (Part 2 Class A, in 33 of the areas)
- Part 4 Class B (Part 4 Class B, in 29 of the areas)
- New access onto a road (Part 2 Class B, in 22 of the areas)
- Part 6 Class A (Part 6 Class A, in 18 of the areas)
- Part 6 Class B (Part 6 Class B, in 18 of the areas)
- Part 5 Class A (Part 5 Class A, in 12 of the areas)
- Part 6 Class E (Part 6 Class E, in 9 of the areas)
- House extensions (Part 1 Class A, in 6 of the areas)
- Garden buildings and outbuildings (Part 1 Class E, in 6 of the areas)
- Part 9 Class E (Part 9 Class E, in 6 of the areas)
Directions listed by Rother:
- Borough of Bexhill (Normans Bay No.1) Direction, 1971
- Borough of Bexhill (Normans Bay No.2) Direction, 1971
- Borough of Rye (Camber Castle Estate No. 1) Direction, 1973
- Borough of Rye (Camber Castle Estate No. 2) Direction, 1973
- District of Rother (Land near Harbour Farm, Morlais Ridge) Winchelsea Beach, East Sussex (No. 1) Direction, 1977
- District of Rother (Land South of Ringden Wood) Ticehurst, East Sussex (No. 1) Direction, 1977
- District of Rother (Land South of Ringden Wood) Ticehurst, East Sussex (No. 2) Direction, 1977
- East Sussex (Battle Rural District) Direction, 1959
- East Sussex (Bodiam Castle, Bodiam) Direction, 1968
- East Sussex (Borough of Rye) Direction, 1951
- East Sussex (Broadland Row, Udimore Road, Brede) Direction, 1972
- East Sussex (Burwash and Heathfield) Direction, 1961
- East Sussex (Etchingham) Direction, 1959
- East Sussex (Fairlight, Pett and Icklesham) Direction, 1965
- East Sussex (Holfords Farm, Winchelsea Beach) Direction, 1965
- East Sussex (The Obelisk, Brightling) Direction, 1968
- East Sussex (The Ridge, Winchelsea Beach) Direction, 1964
- East Sussex (Willow Pett, Dale Hill) Direction, 1972
- East Sussex (Winchelsea) Direction, 1970
- Rother (Burgh Hill, Hurst Green, East Sussex) (No. 1A) Direction, 1975
- Rother (Burgh Hill, Hurst Green, East Sussex) (No. 2) Direction, 1975
- Rother (North Salts, Rye, East Sussex) (No. 1A) Direction, 1975
- Rother District Council (Beech House Lane, Salehurst, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 1999
- Rother District Council (Breadsell Farm, Telham, Battle, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 1988
- Rother District Council (Breadsell Farm, Telham, Battle, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 1988
- Rother District Council (Chitcombe Lane and King Wood Hill, Brede, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2002
- Rother District Council (Devilsden Wood, Ticehurst, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 1998
- Rother District Council (Devilsden Wood, Ticehurst, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 1998
- Rother District Council (Gladwish Farm, Catsfield, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 1990
- Rother District Council (Gladwish Farm, Catsfield, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 1990
- Rother District Council (Goatham Green, Chitcombe Lane, Brede, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2002
- Rother District Council (Goatham Lane, Brede, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 2003
- Rother District Council (Goatham Lane, Brede, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 2004
- Rother District Council (Herbrand Walk, Bexhill, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 1993
- Rother District Council (Honey Farm, Dallington, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 1996
- Rother District Council (Houses in Multiple Occupation, Bexhill, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2011
- Rother District Council (Land at Fairlight Cove, Fairlight, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 2022
- Rother District Council (Land at Fairlight Cove, Fairlight, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 2022
- Rother District Council (Land at Snalesham, Guestling, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 1981
- Rother District Council (Land at Snalesham, Guestling, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 1981
- Rother District Council (Land to the North of Harbour Road, Rye, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 1980
- Rother District Council (Land to the North of Harbour Road, Rye, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 1980
- Rother District Council (Little Poundsford, Burwash, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2006
- Rother District Council (Morlais Ridge, Winchelsea Beach, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 3) Direction, 1983
- Rother District Council (Morlais Ridge, Winchelsea Beach, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 4) Direction, 1983
- Rother District Council (Oaks Close, Etchingham, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2008
- Rother District Council (Paygate Road, Sedlescombe, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2007
- Rother District Council (Pottery Lane, Brede, East Sussex) (No. 3) Article 4 Direction, 2002
- Rother District Council (Pottery Lane, Brede, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2002
- Rother District Council (Rock Lane, Guestling, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2004
- Rother District Council (Rosemary Lane and Broom Hill, Flimwell, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2016
- Rother District Council (Rye Conservation Area, Rye, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2007
- Rother District Council (Rye Town, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 1) Direction, 1991
- Rother District Council (Rye Town, East Sussex) Article 4 (No. 2) Direction, 1991
- Rother District Council (Winchelsea Conservation Area, Winchelsea, East Sussex) Article 4 Direction, 2007
- Rural District of Battle (Icklesham No. 1) Direction, 1973
- Rural District of Battle (Icklesham No. 2) Direction, 1973
- Rural District of Battle (Icklesham No. 3) Direction, 1973
- Rural District of Battle (Icklesham No. 4) Direction, 1973
- Town and Country Planning (County of East Sussex) Direction, 1959
What is an Article 4 direction?
National parks, National Landscapes and green belt
- National Landscape (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) in or bordering Rother: High Weald.
National parks and National Landscapes restrict permitted development in similar ways to conservation areas. Read more: extensions, loft dormers and garden rooms.
Listed buildings and protected trees
Listed buildings everywhere in England are recorded by Historic England, and the checker looks for them at every address. Rother doesn't publish listed building outlines, so where a listed building is recorded near an address, we ask the homeowner to check whether it's theirs.
Rother publishes its tree preservation orders (2,335 areas and individual trees), so we can flag protected trees near an address.
What Rother publishes
| Data | Status | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area boundaries | Published | 10 |
| Article 4 direction boundaries | Published | 61 |
| Listed building outlines | Not published | 0 |
| Tree preservation order areas | Published | 413 |
| Protected trees | Published | 1,922 |
Planning work on a home in Rother? Put a pin on your house and we'll check it against all of this.
Start a checkData from planning.data.gov.uk, published by Rother District Council and national bodies under the Open Government Licence, last updated here on 30 October 2026. Rother District Council website.