Solar panels: do I need planning permission?

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With the cost of energy still high, plenty of people ask whether they need planning permission for solar panels. In most cases the answer is no. Solar panels on a home, and on a commercial building, are normally permitted development, which means you can go ahead without applying. Five separate rights cover it, and this page summarises each one.

The rules for homes changed on 27th August 2026. The current position is set out below, with the previous rules retained only where they help explain the transition. There is more detail in our news item on plug-in solar panels and permitted development.

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Solar panels on your home

Part 14 of the GPDO covers solar energy. Since 27th August 2026, Class A has separate rules for houses and blocks of flats. For a house, roof-mounted solar remains subject to the familiar roof limits, while wall-mounted panels may now project up to 0.4m unless the wall abuts a highway, where the 0.2m limit remains. Balconies and roof enclosures are also expressly covered.

The listed-building restriction is now wider for houses: Class A cannot be used for solar equipment on a listed dwellinghouse itself, as well as on a building within its curtilage. Scheduled monuments remain excluded. In conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, extra highway-facing restrictions still apply, so check the exact siting rather than assuming every elevation is treated the same.

The usual things that can remove a permitted development right still apply, including an Article 4 direction or a condition on an earlier planning permission.

If you would rather put the panels in the garden than on the building, Class B covers stand-alone solar. For houses, the old blanket 5m boundary restriction has been replaced by a more detailed height regime, while the 9 square metre panel-area limit remains. Prior approval is now required in some sensitive locations, including certain positions in conservation areas and on protected land.

What changed for solar panels on 27th August 2026

SI 2026/896 rewrote Class A and Class B in England from 27th August 2026. Each right is now split between rules for blocks of flats, which largely preserve the previous approach, and a separate set of rules for houses. The pre-27th August rules remain relevant to development carried out before the change and to the transitional provision explained below.

For a house, the biggest change is on walls. Panels may stick out up to 0.4m rather than 0.2m, unless the wall abuts a highway, where the 0.2m limit stays. Balconies and roof enclosures, meaning a balustrade, railing or parapet on a roof, are covered for the first time and follow the same split. The roof limits do not change.

The listed-building rule also tightened. It now catches panels on the listed house itself, as well as on a building in its curtilage. Listed building consent has always been a separate matter and still is.

For panels in the garden of a house, the old flat 5m boundary restriction has gone and a height table now applies. The maximum is 1m where the installation is within 5m of a boundary and sits forward of the front wall of the house, 2m where it is within 5m of a boundary, 2m where it is in a conservation area and closer to a bounding highway than the house itself, and 4m in any other case. The 9 square metre panel-area limit remains.

Two limits from the pre-27th August rules are not carried across into the new rules for houses: the cap of one stand-alone installation and the 3m limit on any dimension of the array. On the face of the drafting both are now flats-only restrictions. That reading has not yet been tested in an appeal or court decision, so treat it with care.

There are also two new situations where you have to ask the council first, which is called prior approval, before putting panels in the garden: where the installation is in a conservation area and closer to a bounding highway than the house, and where it is on protected land and within 5m of a boundary. Protected land here means conservation areas, National Parks, National Landscapes, the Broads and World Heritage Sites.

Plug-in solar, meaning a panel designed to plug into an ordinary socket, is pulled inside the definition of solar PV. It does not get a right of its own, so it simply picks up Class A and Class B in full. One new restriction comes with it: you cannot fix plug-in solar to a wooden wall, balcony or enclosure, to any part of the outside of the building clad in timber, or to a wooden fence, gate or wall in the garden.

If something you could have done before 27th August 2026 is taken away by these changes, you can still carry it out up to the end of 26th August 2027.

Commercial solar panels

The August 2026 changes affect homes only. Nothing in this section changes.

Solar equipment on a commercial or other non-domestic building can benefit from Class J. On a pitched roof it must not project more than 0.2 metres from the roof slope. On a flat roof the highest part must not be more than 1 metre above the roof, excluding any chimney, and roof-mounted equipment must be at least 1 metre from the roof edge. Class J cannot be used on a listed building, a building within the curtilage of a listed building or a scheduled monument.

Wall-mounted equipment has separate limits. It must not project more than 0.2 metres from the wall or sit within 1 metre of a junction with another wall or the roof. On article 2(3) land, which includes conservation areas, National Parks, National Landscapes, the Broads and World Heritage Sites, wall-mounted equipment cannot front a highway.

Where the proposal is for solar PV equipment outside the microgeneration definition, Class J requires you to ask the council first about design, external appearance and glare. This is called prior approval. The December 2023 amendments removed the former 1 megawatt limit and also removed the restriction which had prevented roof-mounted equipment fronting a highway on article 2(3) land.

Stand-alone solar for microgeneration on non-domestic premises is covered by Class K. Only one stand-alone installation is permitted. It must normally be no more than 4 metres high, at least 5 metres from the curtilage boundary, no more than 9 square metres in panel area and no more than 3 metres in any array dimension. It cannot be within the curtilage of a listed building or on a scheduled monument.

On article 2(3) land, stand-alone solar nearer to a bounding highway than the nearest part of the building is limited to 2 metres high and requires you to ask the council first about its appearance. It is no longer simply prohibited in that position.

Check out Class K for more information and the full legislation.

You can also now install solar canopies in commercial off-street parking under Class OA. This was introduced in December 2023.

Solar panels in conservation areas

You can install solar panels or solar tiles in a conservation area, subject to the detailed Part 14 limits. On a home, the highway-facing restriction applies to relevant wall-mounted equipment, while roof-mounted solar can face a highway subject to the roof rules and any applicable prior-approval requirement. For non-domestic buildings, the December 2023 amendments expressly allowed roof-mounted solar on a roof slope fronting a highway on Article 2(3) land; the highway-facing restriction remains relevant to wall-mounted equipment.

Since 27th August 2026, the rule for a house also covers balconies and roof enclosures facing a highway in the same way as walls.

What solar panels cost you in planning terms

Where your solar panels are permitted development there is no application to make and nothing to pay. Where you need prior approval, or where the panels fall outside the limits and you have to apply for planning permission, there is a fee. Fees are set nationally and change, so check our planning fees page for the current figures.

If the council refuses prior approval, or refuses planning permission, you can appeal. See our guide to planning appeals, and check the deadline early, because it is shorter than most people expect.

If you simply want proof that you never needed permission, you can apply for a certificate of lawfulness. That is worth having if you expect to sell the house.