Planning permission is currently required for many microgeneration installations where the Local Authority has not issued a Permitted Development Order. For installations today priced at only £1,500, this can add an unhelpful £265 to the overall cost - and introduce considerable bureaucracy and delay into the process of installing microgeneration.

We believe that the way to address this is for certain microgeneration technologies to be listed explicitly within Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995, and its Scottish equivalent. It is important that in doing this, proper consideration is given to limits on physical size, noise, vibration, health and safety, etc. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s current Householder Developer Consents Review provides a useful vehicle through which the details of this measure can be developed.

Labour MP Alan Whitehead’s Private Members Bill – “Management of Energy in Buildings Bill” includes proposals for amending development orders including the following:

View Alan Whitehead’s “Management of Energy in Buildings Bill”