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Planning permission in Wiltshire

Most single-storey rear extensions within the national permitted development limits don't need planning permission in Wiltshire. The rules are stricter in its 244 conservation areas, where side extensions, two-storey extensions and loft dormers need permission. 10 of its Article 4 areas remove some or all house extension rights. Check your address to see which rules apply.

Wiltshire at a glance

Conservation areas
244
Article 4 areas
48
Protected landscapes
New Forest, Cotswolds, Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs, North Wessex Downs
Planning decisions
Wiltshire Council

How many conservation areas are there in Wiltshire?

Wiltshire has 244 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.

Read more: extensions, loft dormers, garden rooms and solar panels in a conservation area.

Does Wiltshire have Article 4 directions?

Wiltshire has published 48 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:

23 of the published areas don't say which rights they remove. Our checker tells people at those addresses to check with the council.

Directions listed by Wiltshire:

What is an Article 4 direction?

Is any of Wiltshire in a national park, National Landscape or green belt?

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 in Wiltshire

Listed buildings everywhere in England are recorded by Historic England, and the checker looks for them at every address. Wiltshire 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.

Wiltshire doesn't publish its tree preservation orders as data. If there are mature trees near your project, ask the council whether any are protected before you start.

What planning data does Wiltshire publish?

DataStatusRecords
Conservation area boundaries Published 245
Article 4 direction boundaries Published 48
Listed building outlines Not published 0
Tree preservation order areas Not published 0
Protected trees Not published 0

Planning work on a home in Wiltshire? Put a pin on your house and we'll check it against all of this.

Start a check

Other councils in South West

Data from planning.data.gov.uk, published by Wiltshire Council and national bodies under the Open Government Licence, last updated here on 31 October 2026. Wiltshire Council website.