How to write a planning application for solar in a conservation area

First: check whether you actually need to apply

Being in a conservation area does not by itself remove permitted development rights for solar. The restriction in Class A applies to a wall which fronts a highway, not to roofs — the conservation areas page sets this out in full.

You need a planning application if:

• an Article 4 direction withdraws the Part 14 rights for your property
• the installation would be on a wall fronting a highway
• the proposal falls outside a Class A limit — protrusion, height, or a curtilage building where the house is listed
• the building is listed, in which case you also need listed building consent

If none of those applies, you do not need this. Check first.

Download the template

What the authority has to decide

Two things drive the assessment, and a statement that addresses them directly is doing the officer’s job with them rather than at them.

The section 72 duty. Special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the area. Note that preserving is enough — you do not have to show the proposal improves anything.

National policy on heritage. Chapter 16 of the Framework requires that great weight is given to a designated heritage asset’s conservation when considering the impact of a proposal on its significance (paragraph 212), and that where a proposal would lead to less than substantial harm, that harm is weighed against the public benefits of the proposal (paragraph 215).

The section that decides most applications

Alternatives considered, and why you rejected them.

Officers see a great many applications that present one option as though no others existed. Showing that you looked at the less prominent locations, and explaining what was wrong with them, does more than any other part of the statement.

It demonstrates three things at once: that you understand what the designation is protecting, that your chosen position is a considered response to it, and that you have already accepted a cost to protect the area’s character.

That last one is worth being explicit about. If you have chosen a rear slope over a better-oriented front slope, say what it cost you in generation — our orientation figures and location dataset will give you the number. A statement that quantifies the concession is far stronger than one that merely asserts good intentions.

Use the authority’s own appraisal

Most authorities publish a conservation area appraisal for each designation. It says, in their words, what gives the area its significance.

Quoting it back is the most efficient thing you can do:

• it identifies what actually matters here, which is often the street frontage rather than the whole building
• it frequently says explicitly that rear elevations are less sensitive
• it is their document, so it is not a claim an officer needs to test

If no appraisal exists, describe the area’s character yourself, carefully and briefly.

Design measures that help

None of these is a rule, and all of them are things an officer will notice:

• panels parallel to the roof plane, not tilted off it — which also keeps you inside the 200 mm limit if that matters
• all-black modules, frames and rails, rather than silver frames on a dark roof
• the array set in from eaves, verge and ridge, leaving a margin of tile
• a rectangular footprint rather than a stepped outline around obstructions
• internal cabling, with no external conduit on visible elevations
• reversible fixings, so the roof can be reinstated

Practical points

Ask about pre-application advice. It usually carries a fee and it is usually worth it. A refusal costs more.

Check the validation checklist before submitting. Requirements vary by authority and a missing drawing is the commonest cause of delay.

Check the fee. Where the application is required only because an Article 4 direction removed your permitted development rights, no fee is payable.

Keep it short. Two to four pages answering the right questions beats twenty pages of general material about renewable energy. The officer is looking for specific answers, not advocacy.

Photograph every public vantage point. If the array is not visible from the street, a photograph proves it in a way that a sentence cannot.

If you are refused

You can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, and for a householder application the process is relatively quick. But before appealing, ask what a revised scheme would need to look like — a smaller array, a different slope, or different materials often resolves the objection faster and more cheaply than an appeal does.

A refusal notice states the reasons. Those reasons are the specification for the next application.