planning permission

In England and Scotland, changes to permitted development rights for renewable technologies introduced on 6th April 2008 and 12th March 2009 respectively, have lifted the requirements for planning permission for most domestic microgeneration technologies.

The General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), or the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Domestic Microgeneration) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2009 grants rights to carry out certain limited forms of development on the home, without the need to apply for planning permission. The scope of the GPDO in England and the TCP (GPD) in Scotland are as follows:

Solar Thermal (roof mounted)

Permitted unless:

• panels when installed protrude more then 200mm.
• they would be placed on the principal elevation facing onto or visible from the highway in buildings in Conservation Areas and World Heritage Sites.

Solar Thermal (stand alone)

Permitted unless:

• more than 4 metres in height
• installed less than 5 metres away from any boundary
• situated within any part of the curtilage of the dwelling house or would be visible from the highway in Conservations Areas and World Heritage Sites

Can they be installed on a listed property?

The SOLARfire™ is one of the few systems that can be installed on Grade 1 & Grade 2 listed buildings; because of their ability to be layed flat. The requirement is that they will need to be placed in an unnoticeable area.