The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, ran a consultation on changes to permitted development rights covering off-street electric vehicle charging point (EVCP) infrastructure and air source heat pumps (ASHPs) from 13 February to 9 April 20241. The consultation as a whole received 1,409 responses from organisations and individuals across the public, private and charitable sectors1. The resulting statutory instrument, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2025, implements amendments relating to EVCPs and ASHPs only1.
The order amends Class D and Class E of Part 2, which cover wall mounted electrical outlets and electrical upstands for recharging vehicles, and Class G of Part 14, which covers ASHPs on domestic premises1. For wall mounted outlets, the existing right does not apply where an outlet would face onto and be within 2 metres of a highway; the order removes that limit1. For electrical upstands, the order removes the same 2 metre highway restriction and raises the height limit from 2.3 metres to 2.7 metres for installations not within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or block of flats1. It also permits equipment and one unit of equipment housing at ground level in non-domestic off-street parking areas, subject to limits: a maximum size of 29 cubic metres, a maximum height of 3 metres, no unit within 5 metres of a highway or 10 metres of the curtilage of a residential development, and no unit within a scheduled monument or the curtilage of a listed building1.
For ASHPs, the order removes the restriction that no part of the unit may be installed within 1 metre of the curtilage boundary, and amends the right to allow cooling and heating, but not solely for cooling purposes1. The size threshold for an outdoor compressor unit including any housing rises from 0.6 cubic metres to 1.5 cubic metres per ASHP, for dwellinghouses only, and up to two ASHPs will be allowed for detached dwellinghouses only1. The order also removes the words "or equivalent standards" so that the MCS 020 a) Air Source Heat Pump Sound Calculation is the applicable standard for heat pump installations1.
The consultation followed a November 2023 independent review published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which proposed amendments to the domestic ASHP permitted development right1. The previous Microgeneration Installation Standards document was updated on 20 March 2025, separating the ASHP and wind turbine standards into separate documents1.
"The statutory instrument measures were part of a broad consultation on changes to permitted development rights which ran from 13 February to 9 April 2024."
Why it matters for households
Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission for specified development, so changes to them alter what a household can install without submitting a planning application1. The order extends what falls inside Permitted Development Rights for Home Energy Equipment for both EV charging and heat pumps, and the practical effect is confined to England, although the instrument forms part of the law of England and Wales1.
For a home considering a heat pump, the removal of the 1 metre boundary restriction and the larger permitted compressor size widen the range of properties where an installation can proceed without permission, and the two-unit allowance for detached houses addresses larger properties1. The change to allow cooling as well as heating brings air-to-air heat pumps within the right1. The removal of "or equivalent standards" narrows the noise assessment route to the MCS 020 a) calculation, which the memorandum says provides clarity to installers1. Households in Heat Pump Planning Permission in England contexts, including those covered by an Article 4 Direction withdrawing permitted development, are not addressed by these amendments.
For EV charging, removing the 2 metre highway restriction widens where a wall mounted outlet or upstand can go within an off-street parking area1. Respondents to the consultation raised concerns that positioning outlets nearer the highway could increase trip hazards; the memorandum notes that the Highways Act 1980 has provisions addressing risks from trailing cables, and that the Department for Transport will consider cross pavement solutions in due course1. The equipment housing allowance applies to non-domestic car parks, not household driveways1.
What happens next
The memorandum states there are no plans to issue specific guidance for this instrument1. The Department for Transport will consider cross pavement solutions in due course1. Article 7 of the order provides transitional arrangements to account for the removal of "or equivalent standards"1.