Applications, appeals, permitted development, enforcement and planning strategy across England
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Part 9: Development relating to roads
Part 9 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO grants a small group of permitted development rights for roads and road transport infrastructure in England. It is quite different from the better-known householder rights: most of Part 9 is tied to particular public bodies, statutory functions or transport undertakings.
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Permitted development can avoid a full planning application, but only if the right applies and every relevant limit and condition is met. Planning Geek can check the planning history, Article 4 directions and other restrictions, and help with a lawful development certificate or prior approval where needed.
What does Part 9 of the GPDO cover?
Part 9 now contains six classes. Class F for domestic cross-pavement charging channels was inserted on 21st October 2026 by SI 2026/1056. They cover highway authority works, strategic highway works under the Highways Act 1980, tramway and road transport undertakings, toll road facilities, and works to unadopted streets or private ways.
| Class | Main user or subject | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Class A | Highway authorities | Road maintenance and improvement works within the road boundary, plus certain adjoining works |
| Class B | Secretary of State or strategic highways company | Works carried out in exercise of Highways Act 1980 functions, including connected or incidental works |
| Class C | Transport undertakers | Specified tramway and road transport infrastructure, including tracks, electrical equipment, shelters and some operational land development |
| Class D | Toll road facilities | Toll collection facilities and associated hardstanding, subject to specific limits |
| Class E | Unadopted streets and private ways | Works within the existing boundaries that are required for maintenance or improvement |
| Class F (from 21st October 2026) | Highway-authorised domestic EV charging channels | Channels embedded in the pavement, subject to heritage restrictions and removal conditions |
Part 9 is not a general right to carry out road works
A common trap is to see the words “development relating to roads” and assume Part 9 is available to any landowner or developer. It is not. Classes A, B and C are expressly tied to highway authorities, specified strategic highway bodies or transport undertakers. Class D concerns toll road facilities, while Class E is limited to maintenance or improvement within an existing unadopted street or private way.
Permitted development is a planning permission. It does not, by itself, give a person ownership rights, a right to enter somebody else’s land, a right to interfere with the highway, or any separate consent that may be required under highways or transport legislation.
Why Class A refers back to section 55
There is an important planning-law wrinkle in Class A. Section 55(2)(b) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 already says that many works by a highway authority within the boundaries of a road are not “development” at all. The exception is relevant where improvement works may have significant adverse effects on the environment. Class A then provides permitted development rights for the highway authority works described in the class.
This is why it is worth asking the first question before reaching for the GPDO: is the proposed activity development in the first place?
Class F: cross-pavement charging channels from 21st October 2026
SI 2026/1056, article 7, introduces Class F from 21st October 2026. It permits the installation, alteration or replacement of a pavement-embedded cable channel from domestic premises to a parked electric vehicle, by, on behalf of, or with the authorisation of a highway authority.
Class F does not permit channels within a scheduled monument site, listed building curtilage or a conservation area. When no longer needed, the channel must be removed and the pavement reinstated as soon as reasonably practicable. Separate highway permissions remain necessary: a householder cannot cut a channel independently simply because there is a permitted development right.
The charger itself must qualify separately, for example under Part 2 Class D or Part 2 Class E, which are also amended on 21st October. The new right concerns a pavement-embedded channel, not a loose cable or surface cable cover.
Class F statutory wording from 21st October 2026
Permitted development
F. The installation, alteration or replacement of a cross-pavement solution by, on behalf of, or with the authorisation of, a highway authority.
Development not permitted
F.1. Development is not permitted by Class F if the cross-pavement solution would—
(a) be within a site designated as a scheduled monument;
(b) be within the curtilage of a listed building; or
(c) be within a conservation area.
Conditions
F.2. Development is permitted by Class F subject to the conditions that when no longer needed as a cross-pavement solution—
(a) the development is removed as soon as reasonably practicable; and
(b) the pavement within which the cross-pavement solution was set is, as soon as reasonably practicable, reinstated to its condition before that development was carried out.
Interpretation of Class F
F.3. For the purposes of Class F—
“cross-pavement solution” means a pavement-embedded cable channel that allows a cable for the recharging of electric vehicles to safely cross a footway from a domestic premises to a parked vehicle;
“footway” has the meaning given by section 329(1) of the Highways Act 1980.
Current Part 9 legislation
The current statutory wording should always be checked before relying on a permitted development right. The original 2015 Order remains the starting point, but Part 9 has been amended. In particular, Class C was clarified in 2018 so that the right is expressly development by transport undertakers.
Explore Part 9
Page Updated: 29th October 2026