Solar Panels and Permitted Development – When is planning permission not required?
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (2015) (as amended), enables solar panels to be installed to domestic and non-domestic buildings.
Solar panels to domestic buildings DO NOT require planning permission where:
- The solar panels would not protrude more than 0.2m beyond the plane of the wall of roof slope.
- The highest part of the solar panel would not be higher than the highest part of the roof (excluding chimneys).
- The panels should not have such an impact on the building that they negatively affect its architectural and aesthetic integrity.
- Solar panels which aren’t in use must be removed as soon as possible.
Small-scale solar panels on non-domestic buildings DO NOT require planning permission where:
- When installed on a pitched roof, the solar panels would not protrude more than 0.2m beyond the plane of the roof slope.
- When installed on a flat roof, the highest part of the solar panel must not be greater than 1m in height than the flat roof.
- The solar panels must be installed 1m in from the external edge of the roof.
- The panels should not have such an impact on the building that they negatively affect its architectural and aesthetic integrity.
- Solar panels which aren’t in use must be removed as soon as possible.
If the solar panels to be installed are not microgeneration (i.e. small scale), an application for prior approval must be submitted to the Council. Information on the prior approval process is on the Planning Portal website.
If the solar panels you are wishing to install do not comply with these details then planning permission may be required. Details on how to submit a planning application.
Solar Panels in the Conservation Area
Information on whether your property is within a Conservation Area
Not all solar panels in the Conservation Area require planning permission. If the solar panels do not front a highway, planning permission WOULD NOT be required.
When planning permission is required, it is important that the proposal for solar panels is designed to preserve the character of the Conservation Area. A Heritage Statement would be required to be submitted with any application and should clearly outline how the proposal would preserve this character and if any harm to the Conservation Area would occur.
In some cases the local planning authority will be required to assess the public benefits of the scheme. To support an application for solar panels in the Conservation Area, we would expect to see the following information submitted:
- Sustainability strategy – this should set out what options for energy and cost reduction have been considered, how the proposal would reduce carbon and costs and what the public benefits of the scheme would be.
- A statement on why the solar panels are required to be sited in the position that is proposed and why the number of solar panels are proposed i.e. they are needed on the south facing slope for the best daylight opportunities and 9 are needed to provide enough energy supply the building.
- A structural survey demonstrating that the roof or wall proposed for the solar panels to be sited on, would be capable of accommodating the number and weight of solar panels proposed.
Where harm is identified upon the character and appearance of the Conservation Area, it must be demonstrated that the public benefits of the scheme clearly outweigh this harm. Where the public benefits cannot be shown to clearly outweigh the harm identified, planning permission is likely to be refused.
Solar Panels on Listed Buildings
All solar panels on listed buildings would require planning permission. Solar panels within the grounds of a listed building or on a site designed as a monument would also require planning permission.