The Proposed C5 Use Class for England: What Wales's Gwynedd Experience Actually Tells Us

In short: The C5 Use Class for England has been consulted on but has not been brought into force. In Wales, the equivalent class (C6) has been in force since October 2022; Gwynedd Council tried to remove the resulting permitted-development right through an Article 4 Direction that came into force on 1 September 2024, but that Direction was quashed by the High Court on 27 November 2025 in R (Williams) v Cyngor Gwynedd [2025] EWHC 2395 (Admin) after officer reports were found to have materially misled Cabinet members. The lesson is not that Article 4 is easy for councils; it is that a properly-evidenced Article 4 remains a live risk once C5 arrives - and that a Certificate of Lawfulness sits above the whole framework and is unaffected by any of it.

There has been considerable coverage of the proposed introduction of a new Use Class (C5) for short-term lets in England. Ross's own analysis of the confirmed English registration scheme touches on this. It is worth setting out clearly, however, what is and is not in force today.

The position today, in plain terms

• A C5 Use Class for short-term lets has not been brought into force in England. No statutory instrument has been laid, and no commencement date has been announced. The proposal has been consulted on and remains under Government consideration.
• In Wales, the equivalent Use Class is C6, not C5. (C5 in Wales is used for second homes.) C6 was introduced by the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2022 and is in force. A change of use from C3 (dwellinghouse) to C6 was made permitted development under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2022.
• Gwynedd's Article 4 Direction is not in force. Cyngor Gwynedd was the first Welsh authority to try to remove the C3-to-C6 permitted-development right via Article 4. Its Direction came into force on 1 September 2024 and was quashed by the High Court on 27 November 2025 (Justice Eyre) after officer reports were found to have materially misled Cabinet members about the scope of the control. Permission to appeal was refused by Lord Justice Lewison on 6 February 2026. Gwynedd's own planning page confirms the Direction is no longer in force and that permitted-development rights apply again.

The Welsh lesson - correctly framed

For English operators watching the C5 proposal, the Welsh sequence is instructive but should be read carefully. Two things are true simultaneously:

1. Councils under housing pressure will reach for the Article 4 tool once the underlying framework is in place. Gwynedd was not an aberration - it was the first authority to try, and it will not be the last. 2. Article 4 Directions are legally vulnerable if not properly evidenced and procedurally correct. The Gwynedd quashing shows the courts will look hard at whether the Cabinet was properly informed about what a Direction does and does not do.

Both points are relevant. Any English C5, if and when it is introduced, will sit on the same statutory footing. Councils under pressure on housing supply will have the same Article 4 tool available to them - and the same procedural exposure the Welsh authorities have now been reminded of.

What this means for English operators

The temptation - a real one - is to wait for C5 to come into force and rely on the resulting permitted-development right. That is not a durable strategy: even if some council-level Article 4 Directions fail (as Gwynedd's did), others may not; and Article 4 only removes permitted development going forward - properties already using the class before the Direction takes effect are not automatically caught. Relying on future permitted-development rights therefore protects only those uses that start after C5 commences and before any local Direction lands.

The alternative is more prosaic and more defensible: address the planning position of the property under the law as it stands today. The "material change of use" test remains the governing question. In many cases and in many parts of England, an existing self-catering use is capable of being confirmed as lawful either on a 10-year basis or on a "no material change of use" basis. A Certificate of Lawfulness so obtained is durable: it is not extinguished by the later introduction of C5, it is not extinguished by any later Article 4 Direction, and it is not extinguished by a change in council policy or a change in political weather.

What operators should do

1. Do not defer planning decisions on the assumption that C5 will provide protection. It has not been introduced, and future Article 4 Directions - if properly evidenced - can remove the resulting permitted-development right for future changes. 2. Where a use qualifies for a Certificate of Lawfulness under the law as it stands, apply now. A Certificate is durable in a way that a permitted-development right is not. 3. Where a use does not qualify for a Certificate, take advice on planning permission. Applications made against a more favourable policy context tend to fare better than applications made after the position has hardened.

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Sources: R (Williams) v Cyngor Gwynedd [2025] EWHC 2395 (Admin) — Aaron and Partners case summary; Browne Jacobson analysis - First Article 4 Direction in Wales successfully challenged; legislation.gov.uk - Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2022; legislation.gov.uk - Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2022.

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