The legislation addresses a problem faced by residents who rely on on-street parking but want to charge electric vehicles at home. While the measures could benefit millions of households, properties in conservation areas will remain subject to stricter planning requirements.
New Planning Rules Allow Charging Cables Beneath Pavements
The changes form part of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2026, which was made on 25 September and comes into force on 21 October.
According to Planning Geek, the legislation extends existing permitted development rights to allow charging equipment to be installed within residential properties where no off-street parking is available. Residents will be able to use approved channels embedded in pavements, commonly known as gullies, to connect a domestic electricity supply to an electric vehicle parked on the road.
The new arrangements cover qualifying wall-mounted charging outlets and freestanding charging equipment. They also remove the requirement for a standard planning application for eligible installations, potentially saving households application fees. There are, nevertheless, limits on what residents can install.
Wall-mounted outlets covered by the new domestic provisions must not exceed 0.2 cubic metres in volume or 1.6 metres in height. Where equipment is attached to a building immediately adjoining a highway, it must not project more than 0.2 metres from the wall. At least 1.5 metres of pavement must also remain clear between the equipment and the carriageway.
Importantly, the changes do not allow householders to excavate public pavements independently. Highway authority authorisation remains necessary, and the installation must meet the applicable requirements. A loose charging cable placed across a pavement does not qualify as an approved embedded channel.
Conservation Areas Remain Excluded As Households Face Charging Costs
The new permitted development rights will not apply to properties in conservation areas, where residents must continue to seek planning permission for qualifying cross-pavement installations.
According to the Mirror, England has approximately 10,600 conservation areas, home to more than 6.8 million people, including an estimated 3.4 million without driveways. The Government defended the restriction, saying it wanted to improve access to domestic charging while protecting the character of designated historic areas.
Local authorities can still approve individual applications or grant wider permission for installations across an area. The changes arrive amid growing interest in household energy improvements.
Research reported by the Daily Express found that Google searches for electric vehicle charging points had increased by 658% over the previous 12 months. The same research, conducted by property finance company Together, found that 50% of Britons considered cost the biggest obstacle to improving their home’s energy efficiency.
Another 63% said affordable finance would make them more likely to undertake improvements. For households considering electric vehicles, the new rules remove one planning barrier, but they do not eliminate the need for local approval. Residents must still obtain the necessary highway authorisation before installing a cross-pavement charging channel.
