Electric vehicle charging: what needs permission
A wall box on a private drive is usually permitted development. A row of rapid chargers with a substation, a canopy and lighting is a development proposal, and the gap between the two is narrower than it looks.
A wall-mounted charge point in an off-street parking area is normally permitted development under Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015, and so is an upstand within such an area, subject to limits. Whether an EV charge point needs planning permission turns on where it is, how big it is, who is installing it and what else comes with it. Once the proposal includes a canopy, a payment terminal, lighting columns and a distribution substation, the permitted development route has been left behind.
The limits in Part 2 have been amended more than once as charging has grown. Read the current text rather than a summary, including this one.
Permitted development for charge points and upstands
The right splits into two familiar forms. An outlet mounted on a wall of a building, within an off-street parking area that serves that building. And an upstand with a charging point, within an off-street parking area lawfully used as such.
Both are subject to conditions in the Order covering size, height and siting, and both carry a requirement to remove the equipment when it is no longer needed for charging. The parking area has to be lawful in the first place, which catches sites where the parking itself was never authorised.
Neither right covers the ancillary paraphernalia that commercial installations bring with them. That is the practical dividing line, and it is worth drawing early in the design.
Flats are the awkward middle case. A block with a communal parking court has an off-street parking area, but the wall the outlet is fixed to may not be in the applicant's control, and the lease may prohibit it. The planning answer and the property answer are different questions, and the property one usually bites first.
Height, siting and the restrictions that remove the right
Four restrictions do most of the work.
| Restriction | Effect |
|---|---|
| Proximity to a highway | The right is withdrawn where the equipment would front and sit close to a highway, which rules out many front garden positions |
| Listed building curtilage | The right does not apply, so listed building consent and planning permission both need consideration |
| Scheduled monuments | Excluded, and separate consent from the heritage regime applies |
| Designated land | Conservation areas, National Landscapes, National Parks and the Broads attract tighter limits |
Height limits apply to upstands and have been raised by amendment, so take the figure from the Order rather than from memory. Where a scheme sits close to any limit, an application for a lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm the works are lawful, and on a commercial rollout it is usually worth the fee on a representative site.
Charging hubs and when a full application is needed
A hub is a different proposition. Several rapid or ultra-rapid units, a canopy, payment and welfare facilities, lighting, surfacing, signage, and a substation with the switchgear that goes with it.
That is a development proposal, and it normally needs a full planning application. It may also involve a change of use, depending on what the land was lawfully used for before. A hub on part of a supermarket car park is one question. A hub on a former haulage yard is another.
National policy supports the rollout of charging infrastructure, and most local plans now carry a supportive policy. The Framework was re-issued on 17 August 2026 with policy-coded chapters, so take the wording from the current edition; the current Framework and its policy codes explains how the structure changed.
Expect the assessment to turn on access, circulation, the loss of parking spaces, lighting, and the visual effect of the canopy. A short Transport Statement covering the trip characteristics and the internal layout usually does more good than any amount of policy argument.
Substations, cabinets and the works around them
Grid connection is the item that delays these schemes, and it is also the item that changes the planning route.
Where the distribution network operator installs and owns the equipment, the parts of the Order dealing with statutory undertakers provide a permitted development route with its own size and siting limits. Where the landowner installs equipment for their own use, that route is not available.
Establish ownership early, because it determines both the consent route and the programme. It also determines who is responsible for the enclosure, which matters when the substation ends up on a frontage nobody wanted it on.
Underground cable routes across third party land need easements rather than permission, and they need to be agreed before the layout is fixed, not after.
Connection timescales deserve a line in the planning programme too. Where the grid offer arrives with a date years out, a phased scheme with the civils built first and the units installed later can be worth applying for, but only if the permission is drafted to allow it.
Highway land, licences and adoption
Anything in the adopted highway falls to the highway authority. Street works licences, permits to dig, and agreements for works affecting the highway are the relevant consents, and they run to their own timetable.
For a hub accessed from a classified road, a new or altered access is likely to need a highway agreement alongside the planning permission. Getting the highway authority's informal view on visibility and turning before the application goes in saves a holding objection later.
Keep an eye on the interface between adopted and private land at the site entrance. Charging bays that require vehicles to queue back across the footway generate objections that are difficult to answer.
Conditions on lighting, signage and hours
Hubs operate at night, which is where most of the local objection comes from.
Lighting should be designed to the site rather than bought off a shelf: column heights suited to the setting, control of upward light, and a curfew or dimming regime where there are homes nearby. A short Lighting Assessment with isolux contours answers the environmental health consultation before it is raised.
Signage and illuminated totems need dealing with in the same application. Hours conditions are common where the site adjoins housing, and they are worth negotiating rather than accepting, because a hub restricted overnight loses much of its purpose.
Evidence for a retrofit in an existing car park
Retrofits are the most common proposal and the easiest to get wrong.
- Confirm the lawful use of the car park and the number of spaces authorised.
- Show the existing and proposed layouts, with space dimensions and the accessible bay provision maintained.
- Show the cable route, trench line and any tree root protection areas crossed.
- Show the equipment positions, heights and enclosure treatment.
- Deal with lighting and signage in the same submission.
- Say what happens to circulation while the works are carried out.
Accessible bay provision is the point that catches people out. Converting the bays nearest the entrance to charging bays, without maintaining accessible parking, produces an objection that has nothing to do with electricity. Charging bays that are also accessible bays need the wider dimensions and a cable route that does not cross a transfer zone.
New buildings have their own requirement for charging infrastructure under Approved Document S, which is a building control matter rather than a planning one, though a scheme that ignores it at planning stage tends to find the layout does not work later.
You can follow changes to these rights on the planning law updates timeline. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports your site needs.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need permission for a charge point on my driveway?
Usually not. An outlet mounted on a wall of the house within an off-street parking area is permitted development, subject to limits on size and on proximity to a highway, and the right does not apply within the curtilage of a listed building. Conservation areas and other designated land restrict it further. Check the current text of the Order before installing, because the limits have been amended.
How many charge points can a car park have under permitted development?
The Order has historically limited upstands by reference to parking spaces, and that restriction has been amended. Rather than relying on a number remembered from an earlier version, read Part 2 of Schedule 2 as it currently stands. Where the proposal involves canopies, payment kiosks or a substation, permitted development will not cover the scheme in any event.
Is a substation permitted development?
Equipment installed by an electricity distribution network operator has its own permitted development route under the parts of the Order covering statutory undertakers, with limits on size and siting. Equipment installed by a landowner for their own use does not sit in that route. Who owns and operates the kit therefore changes the answer, and it is worth establishing before the layout is drawn.
Does a charge point need advertisement consent?
The unit itself does not. Illuminated display screens, price totems and branded canopy fascias may do, under the advertisement control regulations, and on a busy site those are often the elements that attract objections. Deal with signage as part of the application rather than adding it afterwards, when it becomes a separate and more visible proposal.
What about on-street charging?
Installation in the adopted highway is carried out by or with the agreement of the highway authority, and the consents involved are highway consents rather than planning permission in the ordinary sense. The practical route is to approach the highway authority first, since they control both the location and the programme, and planning questions follow from what they will allow.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.