Planning permission in Worcester
Worcester City Council decides planning applications in Worcester. This page shows the protected areas that affect what homeowners can build without planning permission, and the planning data Worcester publishes.
Conservation areas
Worcester has 18 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.
- Battenhall Villas
- Britannia Square
- Claines
- Field Terrace
- Foregate Street and the Tything
- Historic City
- Lansdowne Crescent and Raibow Hill Terrace
- Lark Hill
- Lowesmoor
- Riverside
- Royal Infirmary
- Shrubbery Avenue
- Sidbury and Fort Royal
- St George's Square
- St John's
- Trotshill
- Warndon Court
- Worcester and Birmingham Canal
Read more: extensions, loft dormers, garden rooms and solar panels in a conservation area.
Article 4 directions
Worcester hasn't published any Article 4 boundaries on planning.data.gov.uk. Most councils have at least one Article 4 direction, often in conservation areas, so check the council's website or ask its planning team before relying on permitted development.
What is an Article 4 direction?
National parks, National Landscapes and green belt
- There is green belt in or bordering Worcester. Householder permitted development rights apply as normal in the green belt, but if you need planning permission, green belt policy limits how much a home can be enlarged.
Listed buildings and protected trees
Listed buildings everywhere in England are recorded by Historic England, and the checker looks for them at every address. Worcester 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.
Worcester 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 Worcester publishes
| Data | Status | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area boundaries | Published | 18 |
| Article 4 direction boundaries | Not published | 0 |
| Listed building outlines | Not published | 0 |
| Tree preservation order areas | Not published | 0 |
| Protected trees | Not published | 0 |
Planning work on a home in Worcester? 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 Worcester City Council and national bodies under the Open Government Licence, last updated here on 30 October 2026. Worcester City Council website.