Solar Panels in Portsmouth’s Conservation AreasWhat the Article 4 directions actually say — and what they do not

What Portsmouth’s Article 4 directions actually say

Portsmouth City Council has made a number of Article 4(2) directions, and they come up whenever solar is discussed in the city. So it is worth being precise about what they do, because the common summary — "you cannot put solar on a conservation area roof in Portsmouth" — is not what the directions say.

The named directions withdraw permitted development rights for specified alterations on the main highway-facing elevation, and the one that bears on solar is replacement of roof cladding. Here are the ones on the council’s list:

None of these directions names solar panels. They are about the appearance of the street: cladding, windows, doors, boundary walls. That is a materially different position from a direction that removes solar rights outright — and it is why the answer to "can I put panels on my Campbell Road roof" is a conversation with the planning department rather than a flat no.

The question to actually ask the council

Because the withdrawn right concerns roof cladding on the highway-facing elevation, the sensible question is whether the council treats panels fixed to that front slope as engaging the direction. Officers can and do take a view on that, and the view is worth having in writing before anyone orders scaffolding.

Two other rules apply regardless of any Article 4 direction. Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order says that in a conservation area or on a listed building, solar equipment must not be installed on a wall fronting a highway — a wall, note, not a roof slope. And the Order requires equipment to be sited so as to minimise its effect on the external appearance of the building, which is the condition a rear-slope array satisfies comfortably.

A listed building is a separate matter again: that needs listed building consent in its own right, whatever the permitted development position.

Portsmouth is not Fareham, and that is the point

Article 4 directions are made council by council and street by street, so the only list that matters is your own council’s. Just up the road, Fareham’s direction covering Titchfield does extend to solar panels — the same technology, twelve miles away, with a different answer.

So the rule of thumb people repeat — "roof slopes are fine in a conservation area" — is true in Portsmouth’s named streets and false in Titchfield. Check the list, then check the wording, then ask. It takes an afternoon and it is the difference between an install and an enforcement letter.

What a Portsmouth roof produces while you are waiting

PVGIS models a 4 kWp south-facing array at 35 degrees in Portsmouth at 4,525 kWh a year — among the better figures in the country, and about 6% ahead of Southampton.

Portsmouth is also the denser city, and density brings shading: a terrace with a taller building to the south loses more than the modelling suggests. That is a survey question, not a postcode question.

Our page on solar panels Portsmouth goes through the conservation areas street by street, what the survey looks at, and what an install costs here.

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