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Class A: Development by highways authorities
Class A of Part 9 is the main highway authority permitted development right for road works. It is deliberately tied to works required for the maintenance or improvement of a road or highway. It is not a general permitted development right for private landowners carrying out works near a road.
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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 highway authority permitted development cover?
Class A has two limbs:
- Works by a highway authority on land within the boundaries of a road where the works are required for the maintenance or improvement of the road and are treated as development through section 55(2)(b) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990
- Works by a highway authority on land outside but adjoining the boundary of an existing highway where the works are required for, or incidental to, the maintenance or improvement of the highway
The wording matters. The developer must be the highway authority, the purpose must be maintenance or improvement, and the location must fall within the relevant limb of the class.
Why section 55(2)(b) matters
Not every highway authority operation needs planning permission. Section 55(2)(b) provides that works carried out by a highway authority within the boundaries of a road for its maintenance or improvement are normally not development. However, improvement works which may have significant adverse effects on the environment fall outside that exclusion.
Class A(a) is therefore unusual: it deals with highway authority works within the road boundary where the works do amount to development. The legislation should be read alongside section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, rather than assuming every piece of road maintenance is permitted development.
Works on adjoining land
Class A(b) extends beyond the highway boundary, but only to land outside and adjoining an existing highway, and only where the works are required for or incidental to the maintenance or improvement of that highway. It is not a free-standing right to develop neighbouring land because a highway project happens to be nearby.
Can a homeowner or developer use Class A?
No, not in their own capacity. Class A is framed around the carrying out of development by a highway authority. A homeowner seeking a dropped kerb, a developer altering an access or an owner changing land beside a road should not treat Class A as their own planning permission merely because the works affect the highway.
Separate highway approvals, land rights and planning permissions may still be relevant depending on what is proposed and who is carrying out the works.
Limits and procedure
Part 9 does not set a separate prior approval procedure or numerical size limit for Class A. That does not make the right unlimited: the works still have to fit the description in Class A and the wider provisions of the GPDO remain relevant.
Current Class A legislation
Read the current Part 9 legislation on legislation.gov.uk. For Class A, read it alongside section 55(2)(b) of the 1990 Act because that provision determines when highway authority works within the road boundary are development in the first place.
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Page Created: 11th August 2023
Page Updated: 23rd September 2026