The short answer
You may be able to fit solar panels in a Bath conservation area, but you should ask B&NES planning about your address first. A listed building needs listed building consent, and some streets have extra controls that remove permitted development rights. Whatever the answer on permission, have the roof surveyed first, because panels sit on the covering for many years and the roof beneath must be sound.
Where Bath's controls apply
Bath is a city, and the whole of it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Roughly half of the city lies within the conservation area, so your address may or may not be inside. B&NES Council holds the boundary on its maps and can tell you in a few minutes.
Three separate layers decide whether panels need a formal application. The first is the conservation area, which exists to protect the character of the streets. The second is listing: Bath has around 5,000 listed buildings, according to the Bath Record Office, and listed building consent is its own application and differs from planning permission. The third is an Article 4 direction. B&NES explains that these remove some permitted development rights to protect the character of special areas, and some streets have them. Check the council's policy map to see whether yours does.
Because these layers overlap, the answer is a matter of the particular address, the slope the panels would sit on and how much shows from the road. We do not give legal advice. B&NES planning is the authority, and its development management team can say whether an application is needed.
Listed buildings
If your house is listed, the safe starting point is to assume you need consent. B&NES says clearly that you should always talk to the local planning authority before any work is carried out to a listed building, that listed building consent and planning permission are not the same thing, and that unauthorised work counts as a criminal offence. Panels fixed to a listed roof alter its appearance and its fabric, because fixings pass through or sit on the covering.
Applications on historic roofs tend to be judged on how visible the panels are, what they do to the roof's character and whether the work is reversible. A slope at the back that passers-by cannot see usually gives a stronger case than a front pitch. A roof of natural Welsh slate, stone tiles or clay tiles has a character the council will want to keep. The Bath Preservation Trust offers views on applications like these, and its published views show what is valued.
The council's own guidance is at B&NES listed buildings. For general questions about what roof work needs, see our answer on planning permission for roof work.
Conservation area and permitted development
A conservation area does not forbid solar panels, but it can change the rules for fitting them. Permitted development rights for roof-mounted solar on homes are set nationally and come with conditions, and some of those conditions tighten where the building is in a conservation area, particularly for the side of the roof facing the road. Because the rules have conditions and exceptions, the safest course is to ask B&NES whether your proposal is permitted or needs an application, and to get its answer in writing.
The Planning Portal gives general guidance at planningportal.co.uk, and an installer may apply for a certificate of lawfulness if you want certainty. Neither replaces the council's view on your own street.
If you share the building, you may also need agreement from the freeholder, because roof space and structure are usually common parts. Our answer on who is responsible for a shared roof in a converted flat explains why. Tenants should read who pays for roof repairs in a rented home and ask the landlord before anything is fixed to the roof.
What the roof should be checked for first
This is where a roofer comes in. Panels are mounted on rails fixed through the covering to the rafters, and they stay for many years. Taking them off later to repair the roof costs money, so the roof should be in good order before they go on.
- The covering. Slipped, cracked or soft slates and tiles are replaced first. On an old slate roof, nails that have rusted through will not hold a bracket.
- Battens and rafters. The timbers must be sound enough to take the fixings and the extra load, including wind uplift on the array.
- Lead and flashings. Lead around chimneys, walls and valleys is checked, because it is hard to reach once panels cover the slope.
- Underlay. Perished or missing underlay is dealt with while the covering is open.
- Gutters and drainage. Panels change the way water runs off the slope, so the gutter below must be clear and sound.
- Remaining life. Should the covering be tired, re-roof first and mount panels afterwards.
A covering that is 15 per cent or more heavier needs Building Regulations approval, and the structure may need checking. Panels add weight, so ask the installer to confirm the roof can carry them.
Who does what, and how we fit in
Most owners deal with two kinds of firm: a solar installer, who designs and fits the array and the electrical side, and a roofer, who looks after the covering, timbers and lead beneath. The two firms must settle who answers for each point where the two meet, such as the flashing where a roof-hook passes through a slate.
Empire Roofing Bath handles the roof side. Our survey of the roof costs nothing, and the photographs we take show what we saw. We repair what needs repair, and match materials on older roofs, repairing slate with slate and stone tiles with stone. The survey report can go straight to your installer and to B&NES if you apply. Once surveyed, the roof gets a written fixed price, and any repairs are best finished before the panels go up, as lifting an array later to reach a slipped slate adds cost.
Before you choose anyone, our guide on how to check a roofer sets out sensible questions to ask. If the roof needs significant work first, the sequence is simple: consent where needed, then the roof, then the panels.
