Installing Stand-Alone Solar Panels

Are you considering placing solar panels on your property's grounds, separate from any existing buildings? This guide outlines the specific criteria you must meet for your installation to be considered 'permitted development'. This means you won't need to apply for planning permission from your local authority. Otherwise, you'll have to submit a planning application.

Key Requirements for Your Stand-Alone Solar Panels

To ensure your solar panel installation avoids the need for planning permission, you must adhere to the following rules:

• Minimise Visual Impact: You must position your equipment carefully to minimise how much it stands out or affects the surrounding visual landscape.

• Timely Removal: Once the solar panels are no longer operational or needed, you must remove them as quickly as is reasonably practical.

• First Installation Only: Only your very first stand-alone solar panel setup qualifies under these rules. Any subsequent installations of stand-alone panels on your property will require a full planning application.

• Height Limit: No part of your solar installation should exceed a height of 4 metres.

• Boundary Distance: You must place the installation at least 5 metres away from the boundary of your property.

• Size Restrictions: The total area of your solar array (the collection of panels) cannot be larger than 9 square metres. This means its maximum dimensions should be 3 metres wide by 3 metres deep.

Specific Rules for Sensitive Locations

Certain locations have additional or stricter conditions you need to be aware of:

• Conservation Areas:

  • If your property is within a conservation area and your stand-alone solar equipment will be positioned closer to a public highway (road) than the nearest part of your house or flat, you absolutely must seek 'prior approval' from your local planning authority. This means they need to review and agree to your plans before you start.

  • In this specific situation (conservation area, closer to highway than house), the maximum height for your equipment is reduced; it must not be higher than 2 metres.

• Listed Buildings and Scheduled Monuments: You are completely prohibited from installing any stand-alone solar panels within the boundary of a listed building or a scheduled monument.

• World Heritage Sites: If your property is located within a designated World Heritage Site, you cannot place any part of your solar installation nearer to a bordering highway than the closest point of your house already is to that same highway.

Important Note for Leaseholders: If you are a leaseholder, please remember that you might also need to obtain specific permission from your landlord, freeholder, or management company before proceeding with any installation.