Warmer Bath

Improving the energy efficiency of traditional homes in the City of Bath
5. Planning policy and practice
Getting permission
Throughout this guide we have indicated
where you may need to seek permission
from Bath and North East Somerset
Council before carrying out energy
performance improvements to your
home. There are some improvements which obviously
do not need permission – such as changing your light
bulbs and upgrading your appliances – and a few for
which every household must seek planning permission,
such as installing exterior wall insulation. For much of
what lies in between, the answer is usually: it depends.
Above all, it depends on whether your home is listed
or not. If it is, any change which has an impact on the
character of the building will require listed building
consent. If it is not, you will be able to do a great deal
without the need to seek planning permission.
Even if planning permission is not required, you may
need to get changes approved by the Council’s building
control department to ensure that your proposed works
meet building regulations. However this is not necessary
if you use a contractor who is registered to do the work
to the appropriate standard (see Chapter 4 for details).
The following is a step by step guide to seeking planning
permission from the Council:
1. Explore options and prioritise
Chapter 2 describes some of the issues you need to
think about before deciding what to do. Begin with the
energy hierarchy to specify the full range of changes you
think are worth considering within your home and your
budget. If you have a substantial budget, it will probably
be worth your while seeking professional advice and
working through the various options in detail. Whatever
the size of your budget, the more time you spend
researching your options and talking to suppliers the
better.
2. Is permission required?
Establishing if planning permission or listed building
consent is required may simply involve picking up the
phone and speaking to a planning or conservation
officer in the Council’s planning department (see page
71). However, you will probably be asked to provide
more details in writing before the Council can confirm
whether or not any form of permission is required and
what fees will apply. Planning permission may also be
required if you want to change the use of a building.
If your home is not listed, you will probably enjoy
‘permitted development rights’ as defined by the
Town and Country Planning (General Permitted
Development) Order 1995 and subsequent
amendments. If a change is a ‘permitted development’,
you do not need to seek permission from the Council
to undertake the work. However there may be
restrictions within the General Permitted Development
Order which you must follow. Relevant permitted
developments and their restrictions are described in
Chapter 4.
If your home has undergone development in the
past which required planning permission, permitted
development rights may have been revoked as a
condition for the development. If this could apply to
your home, check with the Council before undertaking
the work.
The Council can restrict permitted development rights
in any part of the city using a power called an ‘Article
4 direction’. This power is used in different ways by
different local authorities, which is partly why the rules
are not always the same in different places. However,
in Bath, at the time of writing, none of the measures
described in this guidance have been restricted in
this way. The General Permitted Development Order
does not apply to listed buildings. In principle, no
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