Article Four Direction
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An Article Four Direction is made by a Local Planning Authority in the United Kingdom and confirmed by the Government. It serves to restrict permitted development rights, which means that a lot of the things people do to their land or houses without planning permission and often take for granted, are brought into the realms of planning consent.
An Article Four Direction is not a conservation designation as such. It is a statement made under the Town and Country Planning Acts which removes all or some of the Permitted Development Rights on a site. For example, it could stop a landowner from having car boot sales on his land for 28 days per year - a right which he would otherwise have.
The Article Four is a very rarely used instrument which is not particularly effective, and is difficult to apply as there must be a good reason to do so or the landowner will successfully appeal. It is not possible, for example, simply to put Article Four Directions on land 'just because the landowner might do something nasty'.
See also Conservation in the United Kingdom.