Paragraph P – Definitions of words and phrases used in Part 14

 

Part 14 of the GPDO is the part that lets you put solar panels, heat pumps, wind turbines and flues on your home without applying for planning permission. Paragraph P is the dictionary at the back of it. It sets out what the words used in those rules actually mean.

On its own, paragraph P gives you nothing. It is not a permission and there is nothing to apply for. It matters because the words it defines decide how far each class in Part 14 reaches. Change a definition and you change every class that uses that word.

That is exactly what happened on 27th August 2026.

These definitions changed on 27th August 2026. Four meanings were added or reworded, including the definition that expressly brings plug-in solar within solar PV. The historic and current versions of paragraph P are set out further down this page. Our 27th August 2026 plug-in solar planning update explains how those definitions affect Classes A and B in practice.

 

 

 

What paragraph P does

 

Always read paragraph P alongside the class you are relying on, never on its own. A handful of the definitions do most of the work:

• “block of flats” means a building made up entirely of flats, so a shop with flats above it is not one
• “solar PV” is the phrase used all through the solar classes, so whatever counts as solar PV picks up those rules
• “stand-alone solar” is solar equipment that is not installed on a building, which is what puts garden panels into Class B rather than Class A
• “MCS Planning Standards” is the sound test an air source heat pump or a wind turbine has to pass

 

Where to find the MCS Planning Standards

 

Paragraph P points at two documents rather than setting the standards out, so you have to go and read them.

For air source heat pumps the standard is MCS 020 a, and a copy can be found at: https://mcscertified.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MCS-020-a-Issue-1.1-Final.pdf. For small and micro wind turbines the standard is MCS 020 b, and a copy can be found at: https://mcscertified.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/MCS-020-b-Issue-1.0-Final.pdf. A copy of the MCS Planning Standards may be inspected at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 55 Whitehall, London SW1A 2HP.

 

What changed on 27th August 2026

 

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026, SI 2026/896, was made on 29th July 2026 and came into force on 27th August 2026. It made four changes to paragraph P:

• a new meaning for “plug-in solar”, being solar panels intended to be connected to your home’s electrics using an ordinary plug and socket
• a new meaning for “roof enclosure”, which covers a balustrade, railing, parapet or any other enclosure installed on the roof of a building
• the words “including plug-in solar” added to the existing meaning of “solar PV”
• a new entry giving “standard plug” and “socket” the meaning they have in the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994

Nothing is taken out. Every other definition reads exactly as it does today.

 

Why the change to solar PV is the one that matters

 

Plug-in solar gets no class of its own. There is no new class in Part 14 built around it and no fresh set of rules to learn. Instead the government added three words to a definition that already existed, and the effect of that is far bigger than it looks.

“Solar PV” is the phrase used all the way through the solar classes. Once plug-in solar sits inside that definition, a plug-in panel counts as solar PV everywhere the phrase appears. It picks up Class A and Class B whole: the same size limits, the same rules on listed buildings, conservation areas and scheduled monuments, and the same conditions about siting it sensibly and taking it down when you no longer need it.

So if you want to know whether you need planning permission for a plug-in panel, do not go looking for a plug-in solar rule. Read Class A or Class B, and remember that plug-in solar is now inside them.

Two limits are written for plug-in solar alone, and both are about timber. You cannot fix plug-in solar to a wooden wall, balcony or enclosure, or to any part of the outside of the building that is clad in timber. In the garden, you cannot fix it to a wooden fence, gate, wall or other means of enclosure. Neither ban applies to ordinary panels.

The detail is on our pages for Class A, solar equipment on your home and Class B, stand-alone solar in your garden. Our news item on plug-in solar panels and planning permission covers what it means in practice.

 

Cost and refusal

 

Nothing on this page costs anything. Paragraph P is a list of meanings, not a permission, so there is no application to make, no fee to pay, no decision for a council to issue and nothing to appeal.

Cost and refusal turn up on the classes themselves. Class A can require you to ask the council first before putting panels on a flat roof in a protected area, and Class B can require the same for panels in the garden in some places. Those requests carry a fee, and if the council turns you down you can appeal. See our planning application fees page for what you would pay, and our planning appeals page for how an appeal works and how long you have to lodge one.

If a council says your work is not permitted development because of the way it reads one of these words, that is an argument about the class, not about paragraph P. The way to settle it is a certificate of lawfulness, or an appeal against whatever decision the council has actually made.

 

 

Paragraph P legislation before 27th August 2026 — historic wording

 

The wording below applied immediately before 27th August 2026. It remains relevant to development protected by article 6 of SI 2026/896, which may be carried out until the end of 26th August 2027 where it was permitted before the amendment and lost that right because of the amendment.

 

Interpretation of Part 14

P. For the purposes of Part 14—

“aerodrome”—

(a) means any area of land or water designed, equipped, set apart, or commonly used for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft; and
(b) includes any area or space, whether on the ground, on the roof of a building or elsewhere, which is designed, equipped or set apart for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft capable of descending or climbing vertically; but
(c) does not include any area the use of which for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft has been abandoned and has not been resumed;

“air traffic services licence holder” means a person who holds a licence under Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Transport Act 2000;

“block of flats” means a building which consists wholly of flats;

“detached dwellinghouse” or “detached building” means a dwellinghouse or building, as the case may be, which does not share a party wall with a neighbouring building;

“MCS Planning Standards” means the standards specified in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme for air source heat pumps (being MCS 020 a) – Air Source Heat Pump Sound Calculation (For Permitted Development Installations)) and for small and micro wind turbines (being MCS 020 b) – Wind Turbine Sound Calculation (For Permitted Development Installations));

“microgeneration” has the same meaning as in section 82(6) of the Energy Act 2004;

“safeguarded land” means land which—

(a) is necessary to be safeguarded for aviation or defence purposes; and
(b) has been notified as such, in writing, to the Secretary of State by an aerodrome operator, an air traffic services licence holder or the Secretary of State for Defence for the purposes of this Part;

“solar canopy” means a canopy structure—

“solar PV” means solar photovoltaics;

“stand-alone solar” means solar PV or solar thermal equipment which is not installed on a building;

“stand-alone wind turbine” means a wind turbine which is not fixed to a building; and

“water source heat pump” means a heat pump where the collecting medium is water.

 

Current paragraph P legislation from 27th August 2026

 

We have applied the amendments ourselves, because legislation.gov.uk had not published the updated wording when this page was written. Below is the whole of paragraph P as it reads from 27th August 2026, every definition and not only the four that changed. Those four are the two new meanings of “plug-in solar” and “roof enclosure”, the words added to “solar PV”, and the new entry for “standard plug” and “socket”, which takes its meaning from the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994, SI 1994/1768.

Both versions stay on this page until the end of 26th August 2027. Article 6 of SI 2026/896 lets you carry out development that was permitted before 27th August 2026 but is no longer permitted afterwards, right up to that date, so the older wording still matters for a further year.

 

Interpretation of Part 14

P. For the purposes of Part 14—

“aerodrome”—

(a) means any area of land or water designed, equipped, set apart, or commonly used for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft; and
(b) includes any area or space, whether on the ground, on the roof of a building or elsewhere, which is designed, equipped or set apart for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft capable of descending or climbing vertically; but
(c) does not include any area the use of which for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft has been abandoned and has not been resumed;

“air traffic services licence holder” means a person who holds a licence under Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Transport Act 2000;

“block of flats” means a building which consists wholly of flats;

“detached dwellinghouse” or “detached building” means a dwellinghouse or building, as the case may be, which does not share a party wall with a neighbouring building;

“MCS Planning Standards” means the standards specified in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme for air source heat pumps (being MCS 020 a) – Air Source Heat Pump Sound Calculation (For Permitted Development Installations)) and for small and micro wind turbines (being MCS 020 b) – Wind Turbine Sound Calculation (For Permitted Development Installations));

“microgeneration” has the same meaning as in section 82(6) of the Energy Act 2004;

“plug-in solar” means solar photovoltaics that are intended for connection to the relevant domestic premises’ electricity installation by means of a standard plug and socket;

“roof enclosure” includes any balustrade, railing, parapet or other enclosure installed on the roof of a building;

“safeguarded land” means land which—

(a) is necessary to be safeguarded for aviation or defence purposes; and
(b) has been notified as such, in writing, to the Secretary of State by an aerodrome operator, an air traffic services licence holder or the Secretary of State for Defence for the purposes of this Part;

“solar canopy” means a canopy structure—

(a) installed with solar PV or solar thermal equipment, and
(b) open on all sides or, in the case of development adjoining a building, on three sides;

“solar PV” means solar photovoltaics including plug-in solar;

“stand-alone solar” means solar PV or solar thermal equipment which is not installed on a building;

“stand-alone wind turbine” means a wind turbine which is not fixed to a building;

“standard plug” and “socket” have the same meaning as in the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994; and

“water source heat pump” means a heat pump where the collecting medium is water.

 

 

Explore GPDO Part 14

 

 

Paragraph P Page updated: 24th September 2026