GPDO changes now provide a permitted development route for home EV charging without a driveway. The new rights commenced in England on 21st October 2026, following legislation laid before Parliament on 30th September.
The GPDO changes also raise equipment-housing and electricity substation thresholds to 45 cubic metres, extend temporary building rights for RAAC-affected schools and update references to the National Planning Policy Framework and Building Safety Regulator.
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2026, SI 2026/1056, was made on 25th September. The Order came into force on 21st October 2026, so the amended rights now apply where their detailed conditions are satisfied. The practical changes apply in England.
GPDO changes give households without driveways a new route
The domestic charging reforms address a familiar problem. A homeowner can have space for a charger on a front wall or in a small garden, yet no private parking space. Before the amendment, Class D and Class E of Part 2 were tied to areas lawfully used for off-street parking.
Since 21st October, those rights also cover the installation, alteration or replacement of the relevant charger within other areas of the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or block of flats. Class D covers wall-mounted outlets; Class E covers upstands. These are separate from the commercial Use Class E and the householder outbuilding Class E.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government explains in the explanatory memorandum that “many households lack off-street parking”. It says pavement-embedded channels can reduce the risks associated with trailing cables across public footways.
We reported the September consultation response when the Government confirmed its policy. The legislation has now commenced, so applicants must apply the amended statutory wording and restrictions.
A pavement channel still needs highway authority authorisation
New Class F in Part 9 permits the installation, alteration or replacement of a pavement-embedded cable channel by, on behalf of, or with the authorisation of a highway authority. The definition concerns a cable crossing the footway from domestic premises to a parked electric vehicle.
This is not permission for a householder to cut into the pavement independently. The memorandum expressly states: “Separate permissions are still required”. It identifies the highway authority’s permission under section 178 of the Highways Act 1980 to lay a cable across the pavement.
The relevant highway authority may be the county council rather than the district or borough planning authority. Unitary councils normally perform both functions, but planning permission and highway consent remain separate matters.
Depending on who owns and installs the channel, street-works arrangements may involve a section 50 licence or an applicable permit route. Residents should confirm this with the highway authority before commissioning works, including who will maintain the channel and reinstate the pavement.
The Government’s earlier cross-pavement guidance remains useful on practical arrangements. However, its description of Class E as limited to off-street parking predates these amendments. From 21st October, the new statutory wording governs whether the channel and charger qualify as permitted development.
Class F excludes conservation areas, scheduled monument sites and listed building curtilages. When the channel is no longer needed, it must be removed and the pavement reinstated as soon as reasonably practicable. The related charger conditions require an authorised channel whenever a footway lies between the charger and the vehicle being charged.
A loose cable or a surface cable cover is not the pavement-embedded channel described by the new right. Nor does planning permission reserve a parking space outside the house.
New charger limits protect pavement space
The GPDO changes retain the existing 0.2 cubic metre volume cap for a Class D outlet and its casing, and introduce a 1.6 metre maximum installation height above ground level. For the new domestic-curtilage route outside lawful off-street parking, there must be no more than one outlet within the curtilage of the house or block of flats, and the outlet cannot be in a conservation area.
Where a wall-mounted outlet is on a house or block of flats immediately adjoining a highway, it must not project more than 0.2 metres from the external wall. At least 1.5 metres of footway must remain between its outermost projection and the edge of the carriageway.
Those are three different measurements: casing volume, projection from the wall and clear footway width. Meeting one does not satisfy the others.
For upstands, Class E retains a 2.7 metre height allowance in non-domestic lawful off-street parking areas. The revised table sets 1.6 metres for other locations, and the new domestic-curtilage route excludes conservation areas. Existing heritage restrictions and the limit of one upstand per parking space remain.
Our Class D and Class E guides explain the amended rules now in force.
Charging hubs gain a cumulative 45 cubic metre allowance
The GPDO changes also affect charging equipment housing. In qualifying non-domestic off-street parking areas, the Order removes the one-unit restriction and replaces the 29 cubic metre limit with a cumulative maximum of 45 cubic metres. That is the combined volume of housing installed under Class E within the area, not 45 cubic metres per enclosure.
The existing three-metre housing height limit, five-metre highway separation and ten-metre separation from residential curtilage remain. Scheduled monument and listed building restrictions also continue.
Above a cumulative 29 cubic metres, additional exclusions apply to Sites of Special Scientific Interest, European sites and use of the housing for advertising. On article 2(3) land, the developer must apply before starting for a determination whether prior approval is required for siting and appearance.
The new procedure includes a 56-day decision mechanism and specified routes to commencement. It is not a general entitlement to build first and seek approval afterwards.
Larger electricity substations, with safeguards
Part 15 Class B has a separate change for electricity undertakers. The relevant apparatus-chamber threshold increases from 29 to 45 cubic metres for installations at or above ground level, or under a highway used by vehicular traffic.
Where a chamber exceeds 29 cubic metres, the right excludes one exceeding three metres in height, within five metres of a dwellinghouse, or on an SSSI or European site. A chamber above 29 cubic metres on article 2(3) land also triggers the new siting-and-appearance prior approval procedure.
Do not confuse the five-metre dwellinghouse test here with Class E’s ten-metre residential-curtilage test. They are different rights for different infrastructure. The electricity undertakings guide explains the wider Class B provisions.
RAAC school buildings can remain under an extended right
The GPDO changes extend Class CB of Part 4 by changing the three-year period to five years and moving its final expiry from 11.59 pm on 24th October 2026 to 11.59 pm on 24th October 2028.
This supports schools still relying on temporary accommodation while RAAC-affected buildings are remediated or replaced. It does not remove the other Class CB limits or the requirement to remove temporary buildings sooner when the statutory conditions require it.
The memorandum reports support from 28 of the 40 consultation respondents. It says not all schools will have completed remediation before the existing deadline. Our Class CB guide sets out the notification, size and siting requirements.
NPPF references and the one-year transition
Article 2‘s defined reference to the NPPF changes from December 2024 to August 2026. The Order also inserts a definition of European site and replaces two Health and Safety Executive references in Part 20 paragraph B with Building Safety Regulator.
There is an important saving for some charging installations. Article 10 allows development permitted by Part 2 Class D or E immediately before 21st October 2026, but no longer permitted because of these amendments, to be carried out until the end of 20th October 2027.
That is a targeted transition, not a blanket postponement of the GPDO changes. It neither brings the new rights forward nor applies generally to the school, electricity-undertaker or Part 20 amendments.
For projects being designed now, we would check the installation, location, intended start date and any separate highway requirements together. The statutory conditions and any separate highway authorisations should be checked before work begins.
The GPDO timeline and affected guides now record the changes in force, with the official legislation available alongside our locally hosted PDF.
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