In most cases, installing solar panels is considered to be permitted development and does not require planning permission providing it would meet the criteria set out below and your home does not fall into a designated area (Conservation Area, Listed Buildings or Scheduled Ancient Monuments).
We always recommend making an application for a Lawful Development Certificate (Proposed Use or Development) to see whether their solar panels would need formal planning permission or not.
There is also guidance available for if you have already installed the panels.
If your property is not visible from a road you will not, in most cases, need planning permission to install solar panels.
Solar panels on homes and other domestic buildings
Solar panels are allowed on a house, block of flats, or on another building within their curtilage (usually the garden) if they do not:
- extend more then 0.2 metres beyond the plane of pitched roof slope or wall or 0.6 metres if the roof is flat
- extend no higher than the highest part of the roof.
They must:
- be sited to minimise effect on the appearance of the building
- not be installed on a wall which fronts a highway
- be located to minimise its effect on the look of the area
- be removed if the equipment which is no longer needed for microgeneration
Solar panels are not allowed if they are in a Conservation Area on a wall which fronts a highway, nor in an area of a scheduled ancient monument or listed building.
Check if your property is in a conservation area.
Freestanding solar panels
Permitted if they are:
- no more than one array (block of panels)
- no higher than 4m above ground level
- not within 5m of the curtilage boundary
- area of the panels does not exceed 9 square meters
- the area of an array of panels is not more than 3 square meters
- any dimension of an array of panels is not more than 3m.
Conditions:
- must be sited to minimise its effect on the appearance of the building
- equipment which is no longer needed for microgeneration shall be removed as soon as possible.
Useful links
Please visit the Planning Portal to find out more about home energy generation.
Further information can be found on the Action on Energy Cambridgeshire website.
Please note that when we signpost or refer to external organisations for services this is not an endorsement or a recommendation of an external organisation or private individual by South Cambridgeshire Council. We encourage residents to carry out their own research to compare different service providers to best meet their needs.