Corrected 17 September 2026. Earlier versions of this article gave the legal basis as “Class J” with a 4 m eaves / 9 m ridge test, a 5 m highway rule, a £234 prior approval fee and claims about consents we had secured. None of that was right: the car park canopy right in England is Class OA, and this site is an information service, not an installer. The law below was checked on legislation.gov.uk on 17 September 2026.
A solar canopy with EV chargers under it raises two planning questions, not one: does the canopy need permission, and do the chargers? In England they are answered by two different parts of the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), and neither answer is “no application at all”.
The canopy: Class OA and prior approval
Since 21 December 2023, Part 14 Class OA of the GPDO has made “the installation, alteration or replacement of a solar canopy within an area lawfully used as off-street parking other than for a dwellinghouse or a block of flats” permitted development. It covers business, public-sector and charity car parks; it does not cover parking that serves homes.
The right comes with a condition people miss: before work starts, you must apply to the local planning authority for a determination as to whether prior approval is required for the canopy’s siting, design and external appearance — the Order names glare in particular. If the authority has not given or refused prior approval within 56 days, the work may go ahead, and it must then be completed within three years.
The canopy falls outside Class OA if any part of it is more than 4 metres above ground level, is inside or within 10 metres of the curtilage of a house or block of flats, is within the curtilage of a listed building or on a scheduled monument, or carries advertising. For the full list, the prior approval steps and the policy tests councils apply, see our guide to solar carport planning permission.
The chargers: Part 2, Classes D and E
EV charging equipment has its own permitted development rights in Part 2 of the GPDO, separate from the canopy:
- Class D allows a wall-mounted charging outlet within an area lawfully used for off-street parking, provided the outlet and its casing are no more than 0.2 cubic metres.
- Class E allows a charging post (an “upstand”) up to 2.7 metres above the parking surface outside the curtilage of a house or flats, with no more than one upstand per parking space.
- Neither class applies within a scheduled monument site or the curtilage of a listed building.
Two changes on 29 May 2025 matter for older designs: the post height limit rose from 2.3 m to 2.7 m, and the former bans on chargers within 2 metres of a highway were removed. The Order does not specifically deal with an outlet fixed to a canopy column rather than a wall or a post, so if that is your design, ask the council how it will treat it.
Equipment housing, transformers and batteries
Since 29 May 2025, Class E has also allowed one unit of equipment housing in a non-domestic car park — up to 29 cubic metres and 3 metres high, and not within 5 metres of a highway or 10 metres of the curtilage of a house or flats. In September 2026 the government said it will allow several housing units with a combined limit of 45 cubic metres, but the amending legislation had not been laid when we checked, so plan to the single 29-cubic-metre unit.
Battery storage is not covered by Class OA or by the charging classes. In November 2025 the government decided not to bring battery storage into permitted development rights, on the basis that most battery projects need a wider planning application anyway. A canopy scheme that adds storage should expect the batteries to go through the planning system.
Conservation areas, National Parks and listed buildings
In England, Class OA still applies on “article 2(3) land” — conservation areas, areas of outstanding natural beauty (National Landscapes), the Broads, National Parks and World Heritage Sites. The difference is that prior approval there also considers the impact of the canopy’s appearance on that land. What does take a site outside the right is the curtilage of a listed building or a scheduled monument, for the canopy and the chargers alike.
Scotland takes the opposite approach for canopies: its Class 9M right does not apply in conservation areas, National Parks, National Scenic Areas or World Heritage Sites. Its charging-post and wall-outlet classes (9E and 9F), however, no longer exclude those areas — that restriction was removed on 31 March 2023.
Scotland in brief
Scotland’s Class 9M covers a solar canopy and its operating equipment over hard-surfaced off-street parking, up to 4 metres high, but not within 5 metres of a road, inside or within 10 metres of a house or flat curtilage, or within 3 kilometres of an aerodrome or technical site. The canopy itself needs no prior approval; associated battery storage does, with a 28-day deemed decision. Charging posts under Class 9F can be up to 2.7 metres, not within 2 metres of a road. Yields, grid operators and funding are covered in our guide to Scottish canopies.
Wales and Northern Ireland have their own permitted development orders, which this article does not cover.
Where planning and grant funding collide
One interaction catches EV canopy projects out. The Workplace Charging Scheme cannot fund chargepoints or infrastructure that were a mandatory requirement — the scheme names installations required by the Part S building regulations or by a planning condition mandating chargers. If you are also applying for planning permission for a wider scheme and the council attaches a condition requiring EV charging, the grant for those chargers is lost. Keep the charger installation separate from anything a condition requires, and check the grant rules before agreeing to a condition. What the grant is worth, and the rest of the cost picture, is set out in our breakdown of EV canopy cost.
Before you apply: a short checklist
- Confirm the car park is non-domestic and lawfully used for off-street parking.
- Measure the highest point of the canopy design against 4 metres.
- Map the curtilages of any houses or flats within 10 metres, and any listed building or scheduled monument on or next to the site.
- Ask the council about article 4 directions, and read the conditions on the site’s existing planning permission — permitted development never overrides a condition.
- Assemble siting, design and glare information for the prior approval application; insufficient information is a ground for refusal.
- Check charger positions against the Class E limits (2.7 m posts, one per space) and the single equipment housing limit.
- Treat batteries as a planning application.
- Start the G99 grid application in parallel — anything above 16 A per phase needs one, and it is often the longest item in the programme.
This is general information, not legal advice.
If you are comparing structures at this stage, our commercial carport PV guide carries the spec tables. We cover the sizing arithmetic for commercial solar carports in more depth elsewhere on the site.