Solar panels have been a mainstay for those wanting to upgrade their homes and make them more efficient. For the longest time it was accepted via 'common collective knowledge' that planning permission is required for solar panels on a front roof slope in a conservation area but this is not right.
The legislation pertinent here is The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended), Schedule 2, Part 14, Class A (LINK HERE) which deals with the installation or alteration, etc. of solar equipment on domestic premises. The way it is written sets out the broad spectrum of what is allowed by default, then chips away by removing situations were solar panels and solar thermal equipment would not be acceptable.
Permitted development
A. The installation, alteration or replacement of microgeneration solar PV or solar thermal equipment on:
(a) a dwellinghouse or a block of flats; or
(b) a building situated within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or a block of flats.
Then the legislation continues to state what is not permitted development. The key to the argument about conservation areas lies at (a) and (c). (My emphasis)
Development not permitted
A.1 Development is not permitted by Class A if —
(a) the solar PV or solar thermal equipment would protrude more than 0.2 metres beyond the plane of the wall or, in the case of a pitched roof, the roof slope when measured from the perpendicular with the external surface of the wall or pitched roof slope;...
(c) in the case of land within a conservation area or which is a World Heritage Site, the solar PV or solar thermal equipment would be installed on a wall which fronts a highway: ...
In this instance it states under (a) that there is a limit to the solar panel protrusion of 0.2 metres from a wall or a roof. This is an important distinction as considers a wall and a roof as separate entities and makes them quite specific.
A.1 (c) the discusses solar panels in a conservation area referring quite clearly to installation on a wall which fronts a highway. There is no mention of roof as noted under (a). This then leads to the conclusion that only solar panel or solar thermal installations that front a highway and are mounted on a wall in a conservation require permission. Being mounted on a roof in a conservation area is not mentioned so, providing they do not protrude more than 0.2 metres, they are permitted development.
This flies in the face of common knowledge as most Planning Officers, Conservation Officers and Enforcement Officers consider the installation of such equipment on any wall or roof slope fronting a highway in a conservation area to automatically need planning permisison.
Having discussed this with my Local Planning Authority it was dismissed as codswallop until the evidence was spelled out to them. The realisation dawned and many an expletive were muttered.
The devil is in the detail and most officers simply rely on collective common knowledge for these things and most in the profession will consider that solar panel on a roof slope in a conservation area will require permission. They are incorrect but it will take some effort for them to accept the truth.
This proves the fallability of Local Authorties in such matters which they will not be best pleased about, but this type of path-dependence drives Councils into a corner and it is necessary for the rest of us to hoist them out, one case at a time.
I hope you found some use to this post but if you would like further information or to discuss your case please feel free to call or email us.