Do I Need Planning Permission.co.uk
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I am wanting to install in-rood solar PV panels on a pretty standard house roof, but the only useful roof aspect faces the road.

This site states: "If your property is in a Conservation Area or in a World Heritage Site, planning consent is required when panels are to be fitted on the principal or side elevation walls and they are visible form the highway."

Permitted Development Rights Pt14 A.1 (c) removes PD rights for "..installed on a wall which fronts the highway'

Both statement could be interpreted as excluding wall-mounted, as opposed to roof-mounted, installations from the PD concessions. This point seems to be a source of confusion and contention!

For instance, Medway (https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200150/planning_guidance/1080/planning_permission_and_solar_panels) states clearly: "You will not usually need planning permission to install solar panels on the roof of a house or block of flats in a conservation area, even if the roof faces a highway. However, you'll need planning permission when installing solar panels or other equipment on a wall fronting a highway within a conservation area."

My LA seems to have the opposite interpretation - stating to the effect that 'wall includes roof' and so PD rights are not applicable. They even charged me £50 to give me that answer.
Neither will they give me any indication as to whether a planning application will simply result in a flat refusal, or if there is some reasonable chance of acceptance.

Is there any any authoritative documentation that might resolve this confusion? Who is the arbiter? Who can help?
In a world driving for 'net zero' this all seems very counter-productive!

Any concrete help/advice very much appreciated.

sorry, typo, that should read "in-roof solar PV panels" - i.e. mounted in place of tiles in the plane of the roof - much neater.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/schedule/2/part/14/made
[Paragraph J.1(d)]

“Development is not permitted by Class J if in the case of a building on article 2(3) land, the solar PV equipment or solar thermal equipment would be installed on a roof slope which fronts a highway;”

Class J does not apply to a domestic house:
"other than a dwellinghouse or a block of flats."

Agreed, that was a mis-reference.

Schedule 2, Part 14, Paragraph A.1(c) states…

“in the case of land within a conservation area or which is a World Heritage Site, the solar PV or solar thermal equipment would be installed on a wall which fronts a highway;”

So it does not mention (as you say) a roof but only a wall. My interpretation similar to the LPA would be the wall in this respect would also include the roof that fronts a Highway.

Why don’t you submit a LDC application and wait for the formal determination, which will then provide details of how it does or does not comply with the GPDO?

I'm in a similar position - in a conservation area and trying to understand whether "wall" includes the "roof" and finding the docs very unhelpful.

Did you ever get a decision from your LPA on this?

You may need to search for Appeal cases. Or submit a LDC application and see what the outcome is.

Did you ever get clarity on this? I have corresponding with the Council for weeks now and haven’t managed to find a way through. I did discover that LDCs are not helpful in relation to conservation areas

https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/uploads/1app/guidance/guidance_note-lawful_development_certificates.pdf

Who are you asking? Did you search for Appeal cases or submit an LDC application?