Solar Panel System Planning Permission and Regulations for Homes

Planning Permission for Solar Installations

Planning laws are generally amenable to Solar Panel Installations and in most cases Planning Permission is not required for an installation provided your design satisfies the Permitted Development criteria. Permitted Development rules are governed by Parliament and a design which falls under the rules does not require a Local Authority Planning Application. Some properties, however, are prohibited from using the Permitted Development rules and require an application to your local Planning Authority.

Properties prohibited from using Permitted Development Rules

Properties classified as Listed by Historic England.

Properties which sit with a Conservation Area

If your property falls within any of the above listed criteria it does not mean that a Planning Application will be declined, it just means the location and citing of the array will need to be carefully planned. At Landsmart we can suggest the optimum locations which will be sympathetic towards the Local Authority Planning Process and complete the Planning Application on your behalf if required. The only specific condition which these properties must be aware of is, “A Solar Array must not face onto or be visible from a highway if located within a conservation or a World Heritage Site”.

Permitted Development Rules

The rules state that a Solar System does not require Planning Permission if the Design meets the following criteria

Sloped Roof: Panels should not be installed above the ridgeline and should project no more than 200mm from the roof or wall surface on pitched roofs. Note: that due to the low profile of Solar Panels and their mounting system, this criteria is satisfied if the panels are mounted in parallel to the roof slope

Ground Mounted System: A Ground Mounted System is fitted as the name suggests on the ground and these are generally large systems. The Permitted Development rules for a “standalone” system are as follows

Flat Roof: Regulations introduced in December 2023 relaxed the previously existing 200mmrequirement for flat roofs, extending the permitted projection from the roof to 600mm. This does not apply for properties that are classified as listed or fall within a conservation area. It is worth noting that flat roof installations require ballasting to ensure the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System is not affected by strong winds. For this reason, it is strongly recommended by Landsmart that a Structural Survey is carried out to ensure the roof can withstand the increased loading. We do all this for you as part of our Installation service.

no more than four metres in height

no less than 5m from boundaries

limited to 9 square metres (this limits the potential size of an array to approx. 4kW)

not installed within boundary of a listed building

At Landsmart we specialise in landscaped, low profile, temporary ground mounted systems which do not require planning permission. See examples below and contact us for more information.

Solar Canopies & Car Ports: This is still a grey area as PV canopies and carports such as the type supplied by Solarstone may or may not come under ‘permitted development’ depending on the nature and size of the installation and the local authority. Until Permitted Development Rules explicitly refer to Solar Car Ports, Landsmart advise using the “stand alone” System Rules for domestic installations. Key considerations when designing and installing such a system are as follows

Should be under 4m high and less than 9sqm

If the installation of the Car Port resulted in more than 1 Stand Alone System at the property

Installed within 5m of the boundary of the curtilage