Electric vehicle charging in planning conditions

Two regimes ask for electric vehicle charging on a new development, and they ask for different things. Approved Document S of the Building Regulations sets a floor that applies whether or not planning says anything. An EV charging planning condition sits on top of it, usually because a local plan policy or a parking standard requires more than Part S does. Knowing which is doing the work on your site decides whether a condition is lawful and how you discharge it.

Start with the question an officer rarely asks and should: is the condition necessary, given Part S already applies? Where the answer is no, the condition duplicates another regime and fails one of the six tests for conditions in national guidance.

Where the requirement comes from

Part S of the Building Regulations, in force in England since 2022, requires charging infrastructure in new buildings and in some major renovations. In broad terms it requires a charge point for each new dwelling with an associated parking space, and for new non-residential buildings with more than 10 spaces it requires at least one charge point plus cable routes to a share of the remaining spaces. The detail, including the minimum rated output and the exemptions, sits in the Approved Document itself, which is revised, so check the current edition rather than a summary.

Planning sits alongside this in three ways. Adopted local plan policies on sustainable transport and parking frequently set ratios of their own. Parking standards in a supplementary planning document often specify active and passive splits. And in London, the London Plan 2021 parking policies set an active and passive provision split for residential parking, with the balance to be made ready for later conversion.

A condition is justified where a development plan policy asks for more than Part S, or where the thing being secured is outside the Building Regulations altogether, such as the management of shared charge points or the timing of installation relative to occupation.

Active against passive provision

The two words do a lot of work and are often used loosely in conditions, which is where disputes at discharge stage begin.

Active provision means a working charge point: the unit, its circuit, its protective devices and the capacity to run it. Passive provision, sometimes called enabling works or EV-ready infrastructure, means everything except the charge point itself. In practice that is containment or ducting run back to the distribution board, draw cords, space in the board or sub-board, and reserved electrical capacity.

The failure mode is passive provision that cannot be used. Ducting is installed, the development is occupied, and the first resident who wants a charge point discovers the incoming supply has no headroom. A condition that says only "passive provision shall be made" without defining reserved capacity secures the duct and not the outcome.

Define the terms in the submitted documents if the condition does not define them. A one-page specification stating the rated output per active point, the cable route detail, the board capacity reserved per passive space and the load management strategy is usually enough.

Ratios applied to parking

Ratios vary by authority, and the arithmetic is worth doing before the layout is fixed rather than after.

Where the scheme crosses the thresholds in the development plan for a Transport Assessment, the charging strategy belongs in that document rather than as a separate submission, and it should be consistent with the Travel Plan measures.

Electrical capacity and the substation

This is the issue that moves money. Charge points are a load, and a hundred of them at 7 kW each is a large one even allowing for diversity.

Three things decide whether the charging strategy is deliverable. The capacity available at the point of connection, which the distribution network operator confirms. The diversity assumption applied, since not every vehicle charges simultaneously and a load management system can cap aggregate demand. And whether a new substation is needed, which affects the site layout, the adoption arrangements and the programme.

Get the network operator's capacity enquiry in early, before the layout is fixed. A substation added at reserved matters stage has to go somewhere, and the places left are usually the ones that were serving another purpose. Where the development plan also requires renewable generation, a combined approach can help, and the piece on solar canopies over car parks covers how that interacts with the parking layout.

Communal and unallocated parking

Shared parking is where charging conditions most often go unimplemented. Nobody owns the problem.

The questions a condition should answer, and usually does not, are who installs the point, who pays for the electricity, how a resident is billed, who maintains the unit, and what happens when a vehicle occupies a charging bay without charging. Those are management matters, so the answer belongs in a management plan secured by the condition or by the obligation, not in a specification.

A workable approach is to install active points in a defined proportion of the shared bays, route capacity to the rest, and secure a management framework setting out the process by which a resident can request a point be installed within a stated period. The last part is what makes passive provision real.

For schemes where the charging strategy is part of a wider carbon case, the Energy Statement is the right home for it, with the parking detail cross-referenced rather than repeated.

Drafting a condition that can be discharged

A condition stands or falls on whether a case officer in three years can look at the evidence and say yes.

1. Name the trigger precisely. Before first occupation of each dwelling is different from before first occupation of the development, and on a phased site the difference is a year or more.
2. State the quantity and the output. "Charging infrastructure shall be provided" is unenforceable. "Each of the parking spaces hatched on drawing number X shall be served by a charge point with a rated output of at least 7 kW" is not.
3. Separate active from passive in different limbs, with the passive limb defining reserved capacity.
4. Require a management plan where any parking is shared, and make the plan a document to be approved rather than a performance promise.
5. Avoid duplicating Part S. Where the development plan asks for no more than Part S already requires, the condition is not necessary and should be resisted.

Evidence at discharge

Submit a package rather than a letter. For most schemes that means:

• the as-built parking layout with every active and passive space marked and referenced
• the charge point manufacturer's specification confirming rated output and connector type
• the electrical design showing circuits, board capacity and any load management
• written confirmation from the network operator of the connected capacity
• photographs of installed units and of duct terminations for passive spaces
• the approved management plan for any shared parking

One practical note: take the photographs of duct terminations before the surfacing goes down. Proving passive provision after a car park has been finished is expensive and sometimes impossible, and a case officer is entitled to ask for evidence rather than assurance.

Browse the 66 report types by category to see which technical documents a scheme with substantial parking will need alongside the charging strategy. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.