The Solar Planning Rules Changed on 27 August, and Plug-In Panels Cannot Go on a Wooden Fence
Plug-in solar became legal on 27 August. The same day, a separate Order changed what you may install without planning permission — and it rules out the two places people most obviously put a plug-in panel: a wooden fence and a timber-clad wall or balcony.
By Energy Pages
Two things happened in England on 27 August 2026. Plug-in solar became legal, which was widely reported. The rules on what solar equipment you may install without applying for planning permission changed on the same day, which was not.
The instrument is the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026, SI 2026/896. It was made on 29 July and laid before Parliament the following day. It rewrites the permitted development rights for domestic solar in Part 14 of the 2015 Order, and it has been in force since 27 August.
The rule that catches plug-in solar
Plug-in solar now has its own definition in the planning rules: “solar photovoltaics that are intended for connection to the relevant domestic premises’ electricity installation by means of a standard plug and socket.” The definition of solar PV is amended to include it, so everything below applies to a plug-in kit as much as to a roof array.
Then two specific exclusions are added, and they are the ones a buyer needs.
On the house, under Class A, development is not permitted where “in the case of plug-in solar, where any part of the plug-in solar would be installed on a wooden wall, balcony or enclosure or on any part of the exterior of a dwellinghouse where that part is clad in timber.”
In the garden, under Class B, development is not permitted where “in the case of plug-in solar, any part of the plug-in solar would be installed on a wooden fence, gate, wall or other means of enclosure.”
A wooden fence and a wooden balcony are the two obvious places to hang a plug-in panel on a house that has no suitable roof, and both are now outside permitted development. That does not make the installation unlawful in itself. It means it is no longer covered by the automatic permission, so it needs a planning application to the local authority like any other development.
What changed for panels on the building
The Order separates the limits for a dwellinghouse from the limits for a block of flats, which were previously written as one set, and it adds new numbers for the dwellinghouse case.
Solar equipment on a wall may not protrude more than 0.2 metres where the wall abuts a highway, or 0.4 metres in any other case, measured perpendicular to the wall. The same pair of figures applies to equipment on a balcony enclosure or a roof enclosure, which the Order newly defines as including any balustrade, railing or parapet.
On a pitched roof, equipment may not protrude more than 0.2 metres beyond the roof slope, and the highest part of it may not sit above the highest part of the roof, excluding a chimney. On a flat roof, the highest part may not be more than 0.6 metres above the highest part of the roof.
Four further exclusions apply regardless of size:
- In a conservation area or a World Heritage Site, equipment may not go on a wall, balcony or roof enclosure that fronts a highway.
- Nothing may go on a site designated as a scheduled monument.
- Nothing may go on a listed building, or on a building within its curtilage.
- On a block of flats, the same listed-building exclusion applies to the block and to buildings in its curtilage.
What changed for solar in the garden
Stand-alone solar, meaning equipment on the ground rather than on the building, gets a height table and a surface-area cap.
| Where it goes | Height limit |
|---|---|
| Within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary, and forward of the principal elevation | 1 metre |
| Within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary | 2 metres |
| In a conservation area, nearer the highway than the house is | 2 metres |
| Anywhere else | 4 metres |
The panel area of a stand-alone installation may not exceed 9 square metres. In a World Heritage Site it may not be nearer the boundary highway than the house is, nor within 5 metres of the curtilage boundary. It may not go within the curtilage of a listed building or on a scheduled monument.
One new procedural step is worth knowing about. Where stand-alone solar would go in a conservation area nearer the highway than the house, or on article 2(3) land within 5 metres of the boundary, the developer must apply to the local planning authority before starting, for a determination as to whether prior approval is required for the impact on the area’s appearance. That is not a full planning application, but it is a step that has to happen first and it takes time.
There is a year of grace, and it is running
Article 6 of the Order carries a transitional provision that most coverage of a statutory instrument would skip and which matters more than anything else here for anyone with a project half-planned.
Where development was permitted under Class A or Class B immediately before 27 August 2026, and is no longer permitted because of these amendments, it may still be carried out until the end of 26 August 2027.
So a garden array or a wall installation that was within the old rules and falls outside the new ones has a year. After that date it needs permission. Anyone who had a quote in hand before 27 August is inside that window, and the practical question is whether the installer’s diary is.
Where this applies, and what it does not change
This Order is England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each set their own permitted development rules, and none of the figures above should be read across.
It does not change the electrical rules. The 800W ceiling on plug-in solar and the product specification it has to meet come from a different instrument, covered in August’s piece on plug-in solar becoming legal, and are unaffected by this one. Nor does it change building regulations, which apply to a roof installation regardless of whether planning permission is needed.
A permitted development right is a permission, not a survey. A roof that cannot carry the load is still a roof that cannot carry the load, and an MCS-certified installer is the person who establishes that.
Read at source, 10 September 2026: the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026, SI 2026/896, on legislation.gov.uk in the version as made. The protrusion limits, the exclusions and the plug-in solar wording are article 3, substituting paragraph A.1 of Class A. The height table, the 9 square metre cap, the garden plug-in exclusion and the prior-approval requirement are article 4, amending Class B and paragraph B.2. The definitions of plug-in solar and roof enclosure are article 5, amending paragraph P. The transitional provision is article 6. Energy Pages is an independent information service, not a government body, a planning authority or an installer, and nothing here is planning advice: a local authority’s own view on a specific property is the only one that decides it.