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GPDO Article 6: directions: general
This page explains Article 6 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. Wales has a separate GPDO and different Article numbering.
Article 6 is short, but it is easy to misread. It does not give a general power to cancel or vary the GPDO itself. It is about directions made under powers contained in the Order.
Where the GPDO gives a person or authority power to make a direction, Article 6 says that power also includes the power to cancel or vary the direction by making a later direction.
The most familiar example is an Article 4 direction. Article 5 also contains a specialist direction-making power for certain minerals development. Article 6 provides the general rule that those direction-making powers include the ability to change or cancel a direction later.
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What GPDO Article 6 means in practice
Article 6 is a housekeeping provision. It prevents a direction from becoming permanently fixed simply because the Order only expressly says that a direction may be made.
It does not bypass any procedure which applies to cancelling or varying a particular type of direction. For example, the procedures for Article 4 directions are dealt with in Schedule 3.
So the useful question is not “can the GPDO be varied under Article 6?” It cannot. The question is whether a direction made under the GPDO can later be cancelled or varied. Article 6 confirms that it can.
Article 6 legislation
Directions: general
6. Any power conferred by this Order to give a direction includes power to cancel or vary the direction by a subsequent direction.
View Article 6 on legislation.gov.uk.
The Welsh GPDO deals with the equivalent general power to cancel or vary directions in Article 8.
Other GPDO Articles
The Articles are the framework for the General Permitted Development Order in England. Use the links below to move between the Articles or return to the main permitted development section.
GPDO Article 6 updated: 23rd September 2026