The Article 4 Direction means that in all of the Bournemouth area and Talbot Village in the Poole area you will need planning permission to change the use of a house (Use class C3) into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) (Use class C4). HMOs are defined as 'small shared houses or flats occupied by between 3 and 6 unrelated individuals who share basic amenities'.
The Article 4 Directions were made under Article 4(1) of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995. For the Bournemouth area the Article 4 Direction came into force in December 2011. We have produced an FAQ for download. For Talbot Village within the Poole area the Article 4 Direction came into force on 1 May 2013. For applications proposing the change of use the Poole Local Plan (2018) includes a criteria based policy to assess applications.