Most home solar in England does not need planning permission. That sentence is true often enough to be useful and wrong often enough to be dangerous, because it depends entirely on your property.
The rules changed on 27 August 2026. If you are reading guidance written before that date, including anything that quotes a flat 4 metre limit for a ground-mounted array, it is out of date.
Scope. This page covers solar installations at dwellinghouses. Blocks of flats are subject to separate rules under SI 2026/896, and the two are now dealt with by distinct sets of limits rather than one shared set. If your property is a flat, what follows does not apply to you in the same way, and you should check the flats-specific provisions before relying on this page.
These rules cover solar thermal equipment as well as solar PV. They are not limited to panels that generate electricity.
Start with three questions
Before any of the detail matters, three things decide most of the answer.
- Is the property listed, in a conservation area, in a World Heritage Site, or on a scheduled monument? Any one of these changes the rules, and some remove permitted development rights altogether.
- Is the equipment going on the building, or on the ground? Two different sets of rules, with different limits.
- Is it a house, a flat, or a non-domestic building? The rights that apply to a house do not apply to a block of flats, and commercial buildings are dealt with separately again.
If you answer “yes”, “on the ground” or “flat” to any of these, assume you need to check with your local planning authority rather than assume you are covered.
What actually changed, and in which direction
This is the part where most coverage has it backwards.
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026 was made on 29 July 2026 and came into force on 27 August 2026. It has been widely described as an expansion of permitted development rights. It is not. The Order’s own Explanatory Note says article 3 “introduces new limitations that apply to the installation or alteration etc of solar equipment”, and that article 4 “introduces new limitations” and a new prior approval requirement.
The clearest proof is article 6. It is a transitional saving for development that was permitted immediately before 27 August 2026 and, because of this Order, is no longer permitted. Nobody writes a saving provision for something they have just made lawful.
Two things happened at once. Plug-in solar was brought expressly inside the regime by being defined and folded into the meaning of solar PV, so that category is now clearly covered rather than ambiguous. And a new set of dimensional limits, exclusions and a prior approval trigger was applied to all domestic solar, plug-in or not.
The buried point, and the one that matters if you are getting quotes this autumn: the new protrusion limits apply to ordinary rooftop solar, not just to plug-in kit. Some mounting systems sit further off the roof plane than the new limit allows.
Source: The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026, S.I. 2026/896, made 29 July 2026, in force 27 August 2026. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/896/made
Solar on a house: the limits that now apply
For a dwellinghouse, development is not permitted where the equipment:
- on a wall abutting a highway, protrudes more than 0.2 metres beyond the plane of that wall, measured perpendicular to its external surface (A.1(2)(a)(i));
- on any other wall, protrudes more than 0.4 metres beyond the plane of the wall (A.1(2)(a)(ii));
- on a balcony enclosure or roof enclosure abutting a highway, protrudes more than 0.2 metres beyond the enclosure (A.1(2)(b)(i));
- on any other balcony or roof enclosure, protrudes more than 0.4 metres (A.1(2)(b)(ii));
- on a pitched roof, protrudes more than 0.2 metres beyond the roof slope, or has its highest part higher than the highest part of the roof, excluding any chimney. Either breach on its own disqualifies it (A.1(2)(c)(i) and (ii));
- on a flat roof, has its highest part more than 0.6 metres higher than the highest part of the roof, excluding any chimney (A.1(2)(d)).
Four exclusions then apply regardless of size:
- Conservation area or World Heritage Site: not permitted on a wall, balcony or roof enclosure which fronts a highway (A.1(2)(e)). Note the wording. The protrusion limits above turn on whether a wall abuts a highway; this exclusion turns on whether it fronts one. They are different tests in the Order and should not be merged.
- Scheduled monument: not permitted (A.1(2)(f)).
- Listed dwellinghouse: not permitted, including on a building within its curtilage (A.1(2)(g)).
- Plug-in solar: not permitted where any part would be installed on a wooden wall, balcony or enclosure, or on any timber-clad part of the exterior (A.1(2)(h)).
Solar on the ground: a sliding height limit, not a flat one
The old flat 4 metre height limit is gone. For a dwellinghouse, height is measured from the surface of the ground, and where more than one circumstance applies, the lowest limit governs. This is not a menu to choose from.
| Circumstance | Height limit |
|---|---|
| Within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary and forward of a wall forming the principal elevation | 1 metre |
| Within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary | 2 metres |
| In a conservation area and nearer to a bounding highway than the nearest part of the house | 2 metres |
| Any other case | 4 metres |
Further limits apply:
- Surface area: the panels forming part of the stand-alone solar must not exceed 9 square metres (B.1(2)(c)). This is the limit that catches people out. It is a small array, and anything meaningful in ground-mount terms will need planning permission.
- World Heritage Site: not permitted if nearer to a bounding highway than the nearest part of the house, or within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary (B.1(2)(b)(i)).
- Listed building: not permitted within its curtilage (B.1(2)(b)(ii)).
- Scheduled monument: not permitted (B.1(2)(b)(iii)).
- Plug-in solar: not permitted on a wooden fence, gate, wall or other means of enclosure (B.1(2)(d)).
The new prior approval step
Where either or both of the following apply, you must apply to your local planning authority before beginning development for a determination as to whether prior approval will be required, with respect to the impact of the appearance of the installation:
- any part would be in a conservation area and nearer to a highway bounding the curtilage than the nearest part of the house; or
- any part would be on article 2(3) land and within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary.
Article 2(3) land is a category defined in the 2015 Order rather than in this one, and if it may apply to your property your local planning authority will confirm whether it does.
This is a step, not a formality, and it happens before work starts.
If your project was already permitted before 27 August
Article 6 provides a transitional saving. Where a specific piece of domestic solar development was permitted development immediately before 27 August 2026, and is no longer permitted because of the new limits, it may still be carried out until the end of 26 August 2027.
This is a saving for what was already lawful. It is not a general grace period, and it does not help work that was not permitted development before 27 August 2026. New work that does not meet the current limits will need planning permission. If you think you may be relying on this saving, confirm your position with your local planning authority before starting.
Building Regulations are a separate system
Planning permission and Building Regulations are two different systems. Being clear of one does not clear you of the other.
For solar on a roof, Building Regulations will normally apply. The ability of the existing roof to carry the weight of the panels has to be checked and proven, and strengthening work is sometimes needed. Building Regulations also apply to other parts of the work, including the electrical installation.
Electrical work in a dwelling is covered by Part P. Those carrying out electrical work must be competent, and the guidance covers design, installation, inspection and testing.
The practical route for most people is to use an installer registered under a Competent Person Scheme, who can self-certify the work rather than requiring a separate building control application. Eco Connect does not operate a scheme and does not certify work. The government publishes the list of authorised schemes.
Sources: Planning Portal, “Solar panels”, building regulations page, checked 17 August 2026, https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/solar-panels/building-regulations; Planning Portal, Approved Document P (Electrical safety, Dwellings, 2013 edition), checked 17 August 2026, https://www.planningportal.co.uk/applications/building-control-applications/building-control/approved-documents/part-p-electrical-safety; GOV.UK, “Building regulations: competent person schemes”, https://www.gov.uk/building-regulations-competent-person-schemes
To find your building control authority: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/applications/building-control-applications/building-control/find-your-LABC
Plug-in and balcony solar is now a separate case with its own rules, and the permissions do not follow the same logic as a roof array. The UK rules for plug-in solar sets out what changed and what the equipment may be fixed to.
Before you rely on any of this
Every limit above is quoted or directly derived from the operative text of SI 2026/896 and carries its article and paragraph reference, so you can check each one yourself. We have deliberately not used secondary reporting on this instrument, because a good deal of it is wrong: figures in circulation that appear nowhere in the Order include a 300 millimetre roof projection, a roof coverage cap, and a 15 square metre ground array.
These rules are national. What applies to your property is local, and the only people who can tell you are your local planning authority. Nothing here is planning or legal advice, and permitted development is fact-specific. If your property carries any designation at all, read when permitted development does not apply before you go further.
Information correct as of 27 August 2026.
