GPDO Article 7 Wales – mineral development directions

Article 4 is the normal route for withdrawing permitted development rights. But it deliberately excludes two mineral rights: Class B of Part 22 and Class B of Part 23.

That is not a loophole. Those two rights have their own faster control mechanism in Article 7. Once a developer gives the required notification, the mineral planning authority has a short period in which it can direct that the Article 3 permission should not apply.

You can read the latest revised Article 7 on legislation.gov.uk.

Which permitted development rights does Article 7 cover?

Article 7 applies only to two notified mineral permitted development rights:

• Class B of Part 22 – mineral exploration, including specified boreholes, seismic surveys, excavations and associated structures for mineral exploration
• Class B of Part 23 – removal of material from certain mineral-working deposits

Both Classes require advance notification to the mineral planning authority. The authority can then consider whether the particular proposal falls within one of the grounds in Article 7 for removing the permitted development permission.

Until the Welsh Part 22 and Part 23 pages are built, the current legislative text can be checked directly in Part 22 and Part 23.

The mineral planning authority has 21 days

Article 7(1) gives the mineral planning authority 21 days beginning with receipt of the developer’s notification to make a direction.

If the authority is satisfied that one of the Article 7(2) grounds applies, it may direct that the planning permission granted by Article 3 does not apply to all or part of the notified development.

The result is that the affected development can no longer proceed simply as permitted development. If the developer still wishes to carry it out, planning permission must be obtained through an application.

This special 21-day procedure explains why Class B of Parts 22 and 23 are excluded from the ordinary Article 4 power.

When can an Article 7 direction be made?

The power is not unrestricted. Article 7(2) identifies the circumstances in which the mineral planning authority may intervene.

A direction can be made where the authority considers that the development should not proceed without a planning application because:

• the land is within a National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty or a site of special scientific interest
• the development would cause serious detriment to the amenity of the area
• the development would adversely affect the setting of a Grade I listed building
• the development would cause serious nuisance to occupants of a nearby residential building, hospital or school
• the development would endanger aircraft using a nearby aerodrome

The face of the original England and Wales provision also refers to the Broads. That remains part of the historic shared wording but has no geographical application in Wales.

A former ground relating to a site of archaeological interest was removed for Wales from 4th November 2024 as part of the implementation of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023.

Grade I listed buildings and the 2024 historic environment changes

The listed-building limb of Article 7 was also updated in 2024. It now refers to a building shown as Grade I in the list maintained by the Welsh Ministers under section 76(1) of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023.

The test is not limited to physical development within the curtilage of the listed building. Article 7 is concerned with whether the mineral development would adversely affect its setting.

What happens after the authority makes a direction?

The direction does not take effect immediately.

Article 7 requires the direction to state the day on which it will come into force if it is not disallowed. That date is 29 days from the date on which notice of the direction is sent to the relevant Minister.

The mineral planning authority must send a copy of the direction as soon as reasonably practicable to both the developer and the relevant Minister. The Minister has a 28-day period beginning with the date on which the direction was made in which to disallow it.

If the direction is disallowed, the mineral planning authority must notify the developer in writing that the development may proceed under the permitted development right.

Why does the legislation still say “Secretary of State”?

If you open Article 7 on legislation.gov.uk, paragraphs (3) to (5) still literally refer to the Secretary of State. That is inherited wording from the 1995 England and Wales Order.

For Wales, the relevant planning functions were transferred from the Secretary of State to the National Assembly for Wales by the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999, as varied in 2000, and were subsequently transferred to the Welsh Ministers under the Government of Wales Act 2006.

Section 85 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 provides that, where necessary for the exercise of transferred Welsh functions, references in existing enactments and documents to a Minister of the Crown are to be read as including or referring to the Welsh Ministers.

For the Welsh operation of Article 7, the ministerial role should therefore be read as the Welsh Ministers. Planning Geek has left the original wording visible through the legislation link rather than pretending the 1995 drafting was textually rewritten when it was not.

Article 7 is different from an ordinary Article 4 direction

The two mechanisms have the same broad consequence — a permitted development right can no longer be relied upon — but their procedures are very different.

• Article 4 can cover a wide range of Schedule 2 rights and can operate over an area or against particular development
• Article 7 applies only after notification of a particular Class B Part 22 or Part 23 proposal
• Article 7 gives the mineral planning authority only 21 days to act
• Article 7 contains its own narrow statutory grounds
• Article 7 has its own 28-day ministerial disallowance procedure

So if the development is Class B mineral exploration or Class B removal from a mineral-working deposit, the starting point is Article 7 rather than the ordinary Article 4 procedure.

What happened to Articles 5 and 6?

There is no missing Planning Geek content between Articles 4 and 7. Articles 5 and 6 were omitted for Wales from 20th October 2022 when the ordinary Article 4 procedure was reorganised into Schedule 2A.

Article 7 was retained because it deals with this separate minerals procedure.

Article 7 legislation

The wording below follows the current revised Article 7. Paragraph 7(2)(a)(iii) was omitted in Wales from 4th November 2024 and paragraph 7(2)(b) was updated for the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023.

Important: paragraphs (3) to (5) still use “Secretary of State” on the face of the 1995 Order. Planning Geek has left that wording intact here rather than silently rewriting the legislation; the devolution position is explained above on this page.

View the current revised Article 7 on legislation.gov.uk. The 2024 change was made by the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 (Consequential Provision) (Secondary Legislation) Regulations 2024.

Welsh GPDO Articles

The Articles are the legal framework for the General Permitted Development Order in Wales. Use the links below to move between the current Articles or return to the Welsh GPDO section.

Legal check: 6th September 2026