Applications, appeals, permitted development, enforcement and planning strategy across England
Planning explanations, updates and practical guidance in video form
Class A – Railway or light railway undertakings
Class A of Part 8 gives a narrow permitted development right to railway undertakers on their operational land, where the development is required in connection with the movement of traffic by rail.
It is not a general right to build new railway infrastructure. The Class expressly excludes the construction of a railway, a hotel, a railway station or a bridge, and it also excludes a number of other buildings and structures unless they are wholly within a railway station.
For most people this is therefore a statutory-undertaker right rather than a route for development beside a railway. The key questions are whether the developer is a railway undertaker, whether the land is operational land and whether the works are genuinely required for rail traffic.
Need help with permitted development?
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 Class A allow?
Where those tests are met, Class A can cover development connected with the day-to-day operation of the railway on operational land. However, the exclusions are important and prevent the right being used for the construction of a new railway or for major standalone buildings such as stations, bridges and hotels.
The Class also treats the reconstruction or alteration of a building or structure as construction or erection where its design or external appearance would be materially affected. Cosmetic wording should therefore not be used to disguise a materially different building or structure.
There is no separate prior approval procedure in Class A itself. That does not remove the need to consider other planning controls, land status or any separate statutory approvals that may apply.
Legislation
Class A – railway or light railway undertakings
Permitted development
A. Development by railway undertakers on their operational land, required in connection with the movement of traffic by rail.
Development not permitted
A.1 Development is not permitted by Class A if it consists of or includes—
(a) the construction of a railway;
(b) the construction or erection of a hotel, railway station or bridge; or
(c) the construction or erection otherwise than wholly within a railway station of—
(i) an office, residential or educational building, or a building used for an industrial process, or
(ii) a car park, shop, restaurant, garage, petrol filling station or other building or structure provided under transport legislation.
Interpretation of Class A
A.2 For the purposes of Class A, references to the construction or erection of any building or structure include references to the reconstruction or alteration of a building or structure where its design or external appearance would be materially affected.
Current legislation: Part 8 of Schedule 2 on legislation.gov.uk
Railway undertakings Page Updated: 23rd September 2026