Do you need planning permission for solar panels?

For most houses in Herefordshire, no. Panels on a roof are permitted development, which means you can fit them without applying, as long as you stay inside a few limits.

But the rules changed on 27 August 2026, and a lot of what is written online is now out of date. Here is where things stand.

The roof of an ordinary house

• Pitched roof: the panels can stand no more than 20cm off the roof surface, and nothing can go higher than the ridge (chimneys do not count).
• Flat roof: no more than 60cm above the highest part of the roof.
• Position: fit them, as far as is practical, where they spoil the look of the house least.
• When they come off: if they are no longer needed, they have to be removed.

A normal install on a normal roof sits well inside all of that.

Walls, balconies and the garden

The August 2026 changes opened these up.

• Walls: panels can project up to 40cm, or 20cm on a wall that faces onto a road.
• Ground-mounted: up to 9 square metres of panel in the garden. Height depends on where it stands: 4m in most of the garden, 2m within 5m of a boundary, and 1m if it is near the boundary and in front of the house.

Listed houses

This is the big change. Since 27 August 2026, a listed house gets no permitted development for solar at all, and neither does anything in its grounds. You need planning permission, and listed building consent as well, which was always the case.

That is not a no. Historic England’s position is that panels are generally acceptable on roofs that are not the main face of the building, with valley roofs and flat roofs the favourites. It just means an application, and a design that respects the building.

Herefordshire has a great many listed houses, so if yours is one, mention it when you first get in touch. It changes the timeline, not necessarily the answer.

Conservation areas and National Landscapes

In a conservation area you can still fit panels to the roof, front slope included, within the normal limits. You cannot put them on a wall or balcony facing a road.

Parts of the county sit in the Wye Valley and Malvern Hills National Landscapes. There, and in conservation areas, two extra steps apply:

• A flat roof install needs you to ask the council first whether prior approval is required.
• A ground array within 5m of a boundary needs prior approval.

Herefordshire Council publishes the conservation area maps on its website. If you are not sure whether you are in one, we check it as part of the survey.

Building regulations

Separate from planning, and they normally apply. The roof has to be able to carry the weight of the panels, and the electrical work has to be certificated. We look at the roof structure at the survey, and if it needs a proper structural check before anything goes up, we tell you then rather than on install day.

Farms and business buildings

Different rules again, and generally more generous on roofs. We have a page for farm and commercial solar that sets them out.

Fitted under the old rules?

If something was allowed under the rules before 27 August 2026 but is not allowed now, you have until 26 August 2027 to do it under the old rules.

The short version

Ordinary house, ordinary roof: no application. Listed: apply first. Conservation area or National Landscape: roof is fine, walls facing the road are not, and check before a flat roof or a ground array near the boundary.

Send us a photo of the roof and your postcode. We will tell you which of those you are, and the survey is free.