ASHP in a Conservation Area

Redlander

I live in a conservation area and would like to install an air source heat pump. I would like to know whether my installation would be a permitted development. I have consulted this page https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/heat-pumps/planning-permission-air-source-heat-pump which says:

• On land within a Conservation Area or World Heritage Site the air source heat pump must not be installed on a wall or roof which fronts a highway or be nearer to any highway which bounds the property than any part of the building

I am not clear what is meant by "fronts a highway". Does it mean "facing in the direction of a highway" or "stands immediately adjacent to the highway"?

My house is separated from the highway by a front garden and the heat pump would not project further forward than the furthest-projecting part of the house.

MP1995

Going to need a visual with an X marks the spot

tacpot12

Fronts means facing the in the direction of. The test is if you stand on the highway can you see it. If you can it fronts onto the highway. 

HopefulHeatPump

The wording seems to indicate that you can install it in front of the building (as in between the building and the road) as long as it is not installed "on a wall or roof" (i.e. the ground), and as long as part of the building is closer to the road than where the heat pump will be sited.

There's nothing that says the heat pump itself can't be visible from the road. 

matelodave

In this sort of scenario, it really comes down to how helpful or not the council is when interpreting the rules as its them who have to approve it, rather than those on here.

What we all think is irrelevant compared to the power wielded by an awkward jobsworth in a council planning department. IMO you would be better served by asking them directly rather than relying on the collective wisdom or guesses of an on-line forum.