West of England Solar Together
Registration closed on 28 September 2021.
Solar Together is a scheme for group buying in the West of England. It is for householders, businesses, and community organisations.
People who are interested in getting solar panels on their property can group together to negotiate a lower price.
By signing up you will get a personalised quote. If you decide to accept the quote you will need to pay a deposit of £150.
The rest of the installation cost will be due later in the process.
The companies chosen to install the panels are checked and accredited by iChoosr.
For more information call 0800 014 8428.
Update
5,222 people across the West of England registered for solar panels and 536 for battery storage. South Gloucestershire had the most registrations with over 1,500 people signing up.
Installation work is planned to be completed by April 2022.
Planning permission
Most installations of solar panels are classed as Permitted Development and do not need planning permission
They will need planning permission if they will stick out from a wall or roof more than 0.2 metres or end up higher than the highest part of the roof (not including chimneys).
Protecting our heritage
To protect the heritage in South Gloucestershire, you cannot install solar panels without planning permission on a:
- wall facing a road in a conservation area or a World Heritage Site
- site designated as a scheduled monument
- listed building
You must apply for consent to have solar panels installed on a listed building (including buildings within the property boundary).
The Historic England website has information on listed building consent and energy efficiency for historic buildings.
Making changes to a listed building without this consent is a criminal offence.
If your property is in a conversation area there can also be some restrictions to permitted development rights.
How we can help
Fill out our enquiry form if you would like advice on whether solar panel installation would be allowed as permitted development or would need:
- planning permission
- listed building consent
If you know you will need planning permission and would like to talk about plans, fill out a pre-application enquiry form. You can find out more and download the form on our pre-application planning advice webpage.
The Planning Portal website has more information about planning permission for solar panels.