Class E: large car charger upstands and equipment housing

Class E of GPDO Part 2 permits electric vehicle charging upstands in lawful off-street parking areas. It also permits certain supporting equipment and equipment housing at ground level in non-domestic parking areas. A large car charger is not the legal test: the right turns on the type, location and dimensions of the installation.

Height limits for charging upstands

Measure from the surface used for parking vehicles to the top of the upstand and outlet. A block of flats means a building consisting of at least two flats. The 2.7 metre allowance is not available merely because a charger in residential curtilage is commercially operated.

There must be no more than one upstand for each parking space. Neither the upstand nor outlet may be within a scheduled monument site or within the curtilage of a listed building. The parking use must be lawful.

A wall mounted charger falls under Class D. A new canopy, parking area, access, lighting installation or other works are not automatically included in Class E and need their own assessment.

Equipment and equipment housing in non-domestic parking areas

Paragraph E(2) applies only at ground level within a non-domestic area lawfully used for off-street parking. The equipment must be necessary for an upstand whose installation would itself be permitted by Class E.

• No more than one equipment housing unit within the qualifying non-domestic parking area
• Maximum housing volume of 29 cubic metres
• Maximum housing height of 3 metres, measured from the parking surface
• Housing must not be within 5 metres of a highway
• Housing must not be within 10 metres of the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or block of flats
• No housing within a scheduled monument site or listed building curtilage
• The equipment must be contained within equipment housing which would be permitted by this class

The residential separation is measured from the curtilage, not simply from the house wall. Likewise, establish the highway’s extent rather than automatically measuring from the kerb. The equipment-housing restrictions are separate from the upstand restrictions: do not apply the upstand’s 2.7 metre allowance to a housing unit or overlook the housing’s own separation distances.

For example, a rectangular housing unit measuring 4 metres × 3 metres × 2.5 metres has a volume of 30 cubic metres and exceeds the current 29 cubic metre limit, even though its height is below 3 metres.

What changed in May 2025?

SI 2025/560 took effect for these changes on 29th May 2025. It increased the non-residential upstand height allowance to 2.7 metres, removed the former 2 metre highway restriction on upstands and introduced the equipment and housing provisions.

The removal of the upstand restriction did not remove the separate 5 metre highway restriction applying to equipment housing. This distinction matters when laying out a charging hub close to a road.

Large car charger changes from 21st October 2026

SI 2026/1056, article 5, changes Class E from 21st October 2026. Until then, the current rules and statutory wording below continue to apply.

Charging upstands will also be permitted in other areas of the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or block of flats. That additional route excludes conservation areas. The new height table allows 2.7 metres in non-domestic lawful off-street parking areas and 1.6 metres elsewhere, measured from the surface used for parking vehicles. The heritage restrictions and one-upstand-per-parking-space limit remain.

Where a footway separates the upstand and outlet from the vehicle, the cable must cross through a highway-authority-authorised pavement-embedded channel when charging. See Part 9 Class F. The new definition excludes a standard domestic plug and socket.

Equipment housing: a cumulative 45 cubic metres

The single-unit restriction is removed. The cumulative volume of equipment housing installed under Class E within the non-domestic area must not exceed 45 cubic metres. This is not a separate allowance for each enclosure. The three-metre height limit, five-metre highway separation, ten-metre residential-curtilage separation and existing heritage exclusions remain.

Where cumulative housing volume exceeds 29 cubic metres, it must not be within an SSSI or European site, or used to display an advertisement. On article 2(3) land, an application must be made before development begins for a determination whether prior approval is required for siting and appearance.

The new application needs a written description, site plan, contact address, an email address if electronic communication is accepted, and any required fee. The authority can refuse non-compliant or inadequately evidenced proposals. Otherwise the procedure includes public notification and consideration of representations and the relevant NPPF. Work must await written confirmation that approval is unnecessary, written prior approval, or the specified 56-day period expiring without notification whether approval is given or refused. The approved or submitted details must then be followed unless a written variation is agreed.

Transition: article 10 allows development which was permitted by Class D or E immediately before 21st October 2026, but loses that permission because of this Order, to be carried out until the end of 20th October 2027. It does not bring the new rights into force early.

Continuing conditions and other approvals

When no longer needed as a charging point for electric vehicles, the development must be removed as soon as reasonably practicable. The land must be reinstated to its previous condition as soon as reasonably practicable and so far as reasonably practicable.

Class E does not replace electrical safety, grid connection, highway or landowner requirements. Planning Geek can assess the planning route and coordinate with electrical, highways and other appropriate specialists.

Checks before work starts

Permitted development is a grant of planning permission subject to the legislation. Check the planning history, any condition restricting the right and any applicable Article 4 direction. The existing use and development must be lawful where the GPDO requires this. A conservation area designation does not by itself remove every Part 2 right.

These rights apply in England. They do not override ownership, lease restrictions, restrictive covenants, listed building consent, highway consent or other separate controls. Where the planning position needs formal confirmation, a lawful development certificate can establish whether a clearly specified proposal is lawful. An informal opinion is not the same as a certificate.

Class E legislation

Source: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 2. The wording below applies before 21st October 2026 and omits editorial amendment annotations. Read it with the GPDO general provisions. From 21st October 2026, SI 2026/1056, articles 4 and 5, amends this text as explained above; article 10 provides the limited transitional saving.

Class E – electrical upstand etc for recharging vehicles

Permitted development

E.—(1) The installation, alteration or replacement, within an area lawfully used for off-street parking, of an upstand with an electrical outlet mounted on it for recharging electric vehicles.

(2) The installation, alteration or replacement, at ground level within a non-domestic area lawfully used for off-street parking, of—

(a) equipment necessary for the operation of an upstand the installation of which would be permitted by this Class;

(b) a unit of equipment housing for the storage of equipment necessary for the operation of an upstand the installation of which would be permitted by this Class.

Development not permitted

E.1—(1) Development is not permitted by paragraph E(1) if the upstand and the outlet would—

(a) in relation to an upstand and outlet—

(i) within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or a block of flats, exceed 1.6 metres in height from the level of the surface used for the parking of vehicles; or

(ii) in any other case, exceed 2.7 metres in height from the level of the surface used for the parking of vehicles;

(c) be within a site designated as a scheduled monument;

(d) be within the curtilage of a listed building; or

(e) result in more than 1 upstand being provided for each parking space.

(2) Development is not permitted by paragraph E(2)(a) if the equipment would not be contained within equipment housing the installation of which would be permitted by this Class.

(3) Development is not permitted by paragraph E(2)(b) if—

(a) it would result in there being more than 1 unit of equipment housing within a non-domestic area lawfully used for off-street parking;

(b) the unit of equipment housing would—

(i) have a volume exceeding 29 cubic metres;

(ii) exceed 3 metres in height from the level of the surface used for the parking of vehicles;

(iii) be within 5 metres of a highway;

(iv) be within 10 metres of the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or block of flats;

(v) be within a site designated as a scheduled monument;

(vi) be within the curtilage of a listed building.

Conditions

E.2 Development is permitted by Class E subject to the conditions that when the development is no longer needed as a charging point for electric vehicles—

(a) the development is removed as soon as reasonably practicable; and

(b) the land on which the development was mounted or into which the development was set is, as soon as reasonably practicable, and so far as reasonably practicable, reinstated to its condition before that development was carried out.

Interpretation of Class E

E.3. For the purposes of Class E—

“block of flats” means a building which consists of at least two flats.

Explore GPDO Part 2

Part 2 overview: minor operations

Back to Part 1: development within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse

Forward to Part 3: changes of use

Updated: 1st October 2026