General guidance for wind turbines
Planning permission for wind turbines depends on which region you live in the UK. If you live in England or Scotland, then certain wind turbines are permitted without planning permission, but they require adherence to strict conditions.
In England, building-mounted wind systems were relaxed as part of 2011 legislation, but in Scotland you will still require planning permission for this.
Permitted development for wind turbines in England
It is possible to install a wind turbine as a permitted development, although it needs to fulfil all of the following criteria:
A wind turbine mounted on a building:
- Need to be detached house and be surrounded by other detached houses in the vicinity
- Must comply to the MCS planning standards
- One turbine is considered permitted development and the property must not have an air source heat pump installed already. Otherwise you need to ask for planning permission.
- Including the blades, no part of the turbine should protrude more than 3 metres above the highest part of the chimney, and the overall height of the house + wind turbine should not exceed 15m.
- The distance between the ground and the lowest part of the wind turbine needs to exceed 5m
- A minimum of 5m needs to be between your turbine and the boundary of your property.
- The swept area of a building mounted wind turbine cannot exceed 3.8m2.
- A wind turbine cannot be sited on the roof of a building within the grounds of a listed building.
- If you live in a conservation area/world heritage site, you are not allowed to position the turbine on a wall that would make it visible from a highway.
- The wind turbine must be removed as soon as practically possible when no longer needed for Microgeneration
- Be sited as far as practically possible to limit the impact on amenity of the local area.
- The installation must not be sited on safeguarded land.
A wind turbine installed as a stand-alone installation:
Can also be considered as a permitted development if the following criteria are adhered to:
- The wind turbine must adhere to the MCS planning standards
- The installation must not be sited on safeguarded land.
- One turbine is considered permitted development and the property must not have an Air Source Heat Pump installed already. Otherwise you need to ask for planning permission.
- The highest part of the wind turbine blade must not exceed 11.1 metres
- The distance between the ground and the lowest part of the wind turbine needs to exceed 5m
- The turbine’s height + 10% is the distance that the wind turbine needs to be from the boundary of your property.
- The swept area of the wind turbine cannot exceed 3.8m2
- If you live in a conservation area/world heritage site, the closest part of the wind turbine needs to be further away from any highways than the closest part of the house.
- Permitted development rights are not applicable for an installation on a listed building or on a building in a conservation area/world heritage site.
- The blades cannot be coated in a reflective material.
- When no longer needed for Microgeneration, the wind turbines are removed as soon as practically possible.
Permitted development of wind turbines for Scotland
In Scotland a building mounted development requires planning permission, but on the other hand, a standalone development doesn’t, unless it contravenes the following points:
- It is not the only wind turbine within this property
- It is situated less than 100metres from your next door neighbour
- It sits on a world heritage site; is on scientific research land; considerably near a listed building or is near land for archaeological purposes.
You also need to make sure that the developer that is building the wind turbine speaks to the local authority and gets clearance for the size and type of wind turbine being installed.
Planning permission for Wales & Northern Ireland
If you live in Wales or Northern Ireland you will require planning permission no matter what the type of system you are going for.
Concluding comments on planning permission
With any wind turbine it is worth checking with your local planning authority to find out whether your proposed installation will require planning permission.
I have bought three acres of much neglected agricultural land in Warwickshire and am presently making a number of perimeter oak trees safe. One large old mature oak is completely dead, (long ago lightening strike possibly) I plan to have cut down to the top the main trunk leaving a short hand spread of branch base. On this I plan to put a small platform approx.3-4m from the ground to mount a vertical wind generator and associated 12v/24v electrics. This can run security lighting and possible camera / wi fi system and power to any horse fence, stable and site buildings later. The land is not in sight of a road, not on heritage site/conservation area, no tree preservation orders, more than 300m from a domestic residence, 3m from the line of little used public footpath and approx. 20m from the line of overhead power lines (the type on telegraph poles).The approx, top extent of the wind vertical generator being a good 2-3 m below the level line of the power cables.
My question is can this project be ‘do-able’ in the near future without planning permission and what problems do you envisage I may encounter.
Go for solar pv. Its cheaper and more reliable.
No it’s not, it takes up more space for the same output and doesn’t really work in winter.
Nobody cares about your land Neil.
I agree
Hi,according to current guidelines how could a semi detached property produce power via microwind installation?
It can’t
Wind in urban areas is completely useless due to turbulence.
It’s not useless if it’s 30 feet above anything within a 500-foot horizontal radius. So a pole on the side of the house would work. However it would then be in violation of the maximum height, so could not be used.
Hello
I just wondering how much the flower style turbines cost. We have a small fsrm and are interested in maybe installing one to run a caravan or workshop.
This is a page about planning permission
Are the same rules applied for vertical axis wind turbines?
My neighbor is erecting a wind turbine right on our garden border.. is this permitted?
No, 5 meters minimum
I have almost 600 acres in Western Kansas in the United States of America. At present, I have three oil wells that produce crude oil. I really think that wind and solar are the energy sources of the future. I would like to have a company contact me to discuss the possibility of wind power.
Hi I’m growing tomatoes
Why the heck can I not install a turbine if I have an air source heat pump ? Are they worried about noise or something? I can’t understand how this goes with the governments supposed plans to introduce heat pumps and also for us to use more renewable energy. Also if it’s about noise .. the heat pump will be quieter than a turbine so again I don’t see the reasoning here.
Hi have same problems but put a microwindturbine up had to Go through planning treated like a criminal told the wrong information costing thousands of pounds in wasted testings noise report but had to have this to get planning permission but then rejected as no plans for wind in local politics? Never told about this nothing published by lpa? To inform you.be careful councils haven’t got a clue!!!!!
You must be expecting councils to be reasonable, logical, non-collectivist and without bias.
It would seem that in a time of measures to prevent climate change that only allowing wind turbines on detached property is rather short sited. Surely allowing them on semi detached or for communities in terraced locations would be more forward thinking.
Yup. In my case I am hardly asking the earth to be allowed to plonk a small 300 watt turbine on the damned shed in the garden without fear of some council spanner with a clip board knocking your door but it seems you are only allowed to generate electricity if you already have more than enough money to pay your bills and so own a detached house with a big garden and all rules are written with the presumption you want to install a large turbine because obviously the plebs would know nothing of such things in their little hovels and god knows they have to be kept on the hook feeding transnationally owned energy corporations ever more for ever less.
What would the situation be with a vertical axis windmill?
What about multiple mini turbines linked toether mechanically or electrically.
I have an air source heat pump and I know it says that i would need planning permission to have one attached to my building or a stand a lone. But does that apply to an outhouse building ie my workshop? The workshop isn’t attached to the air source heat pump it only uses the house electric for power. Can I use a turbine to power just my workshop? Regards.
Some of the details above for Permitted Development for England do not agree with The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 or need clarification. In particular, the chimney reference is incorrect and requiremens relating to the wind turbine positioning always include the blades.
Hi, I would like to have a vertical, helical wind turbine installed. I have a semi-detached house. My address is 4 Campsie Road, Grangemouth. I have looked at the wind turbines on Amazon.co.uk and I think that any of the following might be appropriate (providing there are no planning permission restrictions). The turbines I liked are :-
Fablestoryem (14000w) @ £273
ZYJIX (8000w) @ £396.77
EQEEN (12000w) @ £289
ZHNPJE (8000w) @ £308.45
Please can you let me know if I would be permitted to erect a wind turbine on my house, and if so, which of the above turbines would be the most convenient/appropriate. I already have solar pv panels, an inverter and an FIT arrangement with Scottish Power.
Kind regards,
David Goudie. Tel. No. 01324471500
why if you have a heat pump can you not have a wind turbine.
i have asked planners and though they sent me a 200 page booklet it did not explain this rule at all.
We are looking at installing 2 wind turbines on our village hall, Henstridge Village Hall management committee is a charity.