Listed building consent for solar panels on a Grade II listed house.

A withdrawn application and a discouraging pre-application.

This was not a first attempt. Applications for solar panels on the same roof were made in 2023 and withdrawn. Pre-application advice followed in March 2024, and it was not encouraging: the council raised concerns about the effect on the listed building and took the view that the benefit of the panels would be relatively small.

The council did, however, say what it needed to see: a Heritage Statement that assessed the roof and the roof structure. We were appointed in May 2024, working with OPEN Architecture, and inspected the house and its roof voids at the end of that month.

Reading the roof before putting anything on it.

The list entry describes the building as early nineteenth century. Map regression refined that: the original three-storey house was built between the 1838 tithe map and the 1871 Ordnance Survey, and a two-storey wing first appears on the 1907 edition.

The roof itself had changed more than its appearance suggests. A 1939 aerial photograph and altered timbers in the roof void showed that a chimney had been removed from the south pitch, and a modern lining showed that the slopes had been re-covered in the twentieth century with some replacement slate. The building as a whole is of high significance. The roof, as an altered element, is less sensitive than the principal elevation.

The scheme was designed around that evidence. Eleven panels were proposed on the south-facing pitches only, six on the three-storey section and five on the wing, on slopes that face away from the road and the conservation area and are screened by the setback of the house and its mature trees. Brackets fix to the existing rafters, with slates lifted and re-laid around each fixing, so no historic fabric is lost and the installation can be reversed. Historic England published its Advice Note 18 on adapting historic buildings for energy efficiency in July 2024, the month our statement was issued, and the statement applied its guidance that roof slopes of less prominence are generally the acceptable place for panels.

An objection, and a recommendation to grant.

The conservation officer did not support the proposal, finding that the panels would cause less than substantial harm to the listed building, while accepting that there would be no loss of historic fabric and noting our finding that the roof had been relined and partly re-slated.

The planning officer’s report to the Development Management Committee reached a different conclusion. It found that views of the south-facing slopes are limited, that the panels would not be prominent, and that their effect would be reversible, relying on the same Historic England guidance. It recommended that consent be granted, and the committee agreed.

• Eleven panels on two south-facing roof slopes
• Estimated output of 4.39 MWh a year
• An estimated saving of around 850kg of CO2 a year

Planning permission (24/02036/HOUSE) and listed building consent (24/02037/LBCALT) were granted in December 2024. The conditions are simple ones: a three year start, the approved plans, and removal of the panels with the roof made good within three months of their being decommissioned.