Why legal experts believe a new commercial-to-residential PD right will make existing Article 4 exemptions redundant

So-called Article 4 directions that exempt areas from current residential permitted development (PD) rights have been put in place in almost one in five English local planning authorities. But the introduction of a new PD right allowing a swathe of town centre commercial uses to convert to housing is likely to mean that those exemptions would be wiped out, legal experts fear.