Aircon planning permission

ChristopherM87

I'm looking to install an aircon unit to my garden studio. Reading the rules:

You don’t need planning permission for a central air conditioning unit as long as:

The external unit is not installed on a pitched roof
There is no wind turbine at the property
The external unit is not installed within 1 metre of the edge of a flat roof
The volume of the external compressor unit is not more than 0.6m³
The external unit is more than 1 metre away from the boundary of the property

I'm sure many of you have followed those rules fine. But after more digging, I was surprised to find this rule:

Development is permitted by Class G subject to the following conditions—

(a)the air source heat pump is used solely for heating purposes;
(d)the air source heat pump is removed as soon as reasonably practicable when no longer needed.

So any aircon to cool needs planning permission :mad:

AFF8879

You can just buy a portable unit along with something like this to fit in a standard window- far cheaper than a permanent installation and perfect adequate for most garden outbuildings (unless yours is abnormally large).

ChristopherM87

AFF8879 wrote: »

You can just buy a portable unit along with something like this to fit in a standard window- far cheaper than a permanent installation and perfect adequate for most garden outbuildings (unless yours is abnormally large).

I need a proper fixed one as it gets very hot. And my windows open outwards from the top so those aren't suitable.

markin

Its all about the exterior noise level, is the any doors windows patios/ seating areas that would be disturbed say withing 30 meters? Would you be running it all day and night?

They can be a little bit quieter now, and if its a small one you may get away with it, turning it off between say 5pm and 9am may also help, but as soon as you get a complaint to the council.....

Aim for under 50dB, 40-60dB is ordinary conversation measure.

2 panasonic models i just looked at claim to be 49/50dB, A heavy block wall directing the sound up may also help, rather than a 3mm fence.
https://www.aircon.panasonic.eu/uploads/BE/clima_catalogues/EU_RAC_17_LR%20ENGLISH.pdf


If they do put a complaint to the council it may be to the environmental department *(Noise team) not planning, and i think they can stop you using it, but may inform planning also.


https://www.westminster.gov.uk/air-conditioning

ThePants999

ChristopherM87 wrote: »

So any aircon to cool needs planning permission :mad:

Strictly speaking, yes, and here's someone who's had a bad time of it as a result: https://www.revk.uk/2018/07/air-conditioning-at-home-planning.html

However, with the caveat that I'm one of the less risk-averse posters on this particular board, so many here would likely disagree with me, I'd personally recommend that you just install the damned thing and hope the council don't notice. We installed our first unit three years ago, and have added a couple more since, and nothing's come of it yet. (It helps, I suspect, that our outdoor units are all positioned such that none of our neighbours hear them at all.)