Solar Planning Exemptions - Advice -October 2022

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage signed two new sets of regulations entitled the Planning and Development Act (Exempted Development) (No.3) Regulations 2022 and the Planning and Development (Solar Safeguarding Zone) Regulations 2022 which have immediate effect.

The two sets of Regulations are linked and combine to amend and extend the existing exemptions for solar installations for a range of classes of development. An overview of the key provisions of each set of Regulations is set out below.

•  Planning and Development Act (Exempted Development) (No.3) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No. 493 of 2022)

These regulations set out the updated conditions and limitations which apply to the various pre-existing classes of development (e.g. houses, industrial, light industrial, business premises and agricultural). Substantial increases to the existing planning exemption thresholds for solar panels are provided as well as the introduction of two new classes of exempted development.

• Planning and Development (Solar Safeguarding Zone) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No. 492 of 2022)

These Regulations set out 43 Solar Safeguarding Zones (SSZs) within which a rooftop limit on solar panels continues to apply. The SSZs are applicable to all classes of development other than houses.  In Donegal the Solar safeguarding Zones are located at Finner, Donegal Airport - Carrickfin, and Letterkenny Hospital.  The SSZs are available for viewing in detail on www.myplan.ie .

• Main changes/ provisions

Among the main changes provided for are as follows:

• The 12sqm/ 50% roof limit which applied to houses has been removed nationwide. There is no rooftop limit on houses, regardless of whether the house is located within or outside of a Solar Safeguarding Zone (SSZ). Houses are now able to erect unlimited rooftop solar panels subject to certain conditions such as minimum distances from the edge of the roof and the general restrictions on exempted development set out in the Planning and Development Act 2000 (the Planning Act) and the Principal Regulations including in respect of protected structures and Architectural Conservation Areas.
• The 50sqm/ 50% roof limit which applied to other specified classes of development has been removed for solar developments that are located outside of an SSZ. Such developments, located outside of an SSZ, are able to erect unlimited rooftop solar panels subject to certain conditions such as minimum distances from the edge of the roof and the general restrictions on exempted development set out in the Planning Act and the Principal Regulations including in respect of protected structures and Architectural Conservation Areas.
• For solar developments that are located within an SSZ, a 300sqm rooftop limit applies to each rooftop within the curtilage of a site/ holding.
• Applicants in SSZs may seek planning permission for rooftop proposals larger than 300sqm.
• Safeguards in respect of hazardous glint and glare have been provided for requiring any offending panels to be removed or covered until the issue has been resolved to the satisfaction of the planning authority.
• The regulations add two new classes of exempted development to the Principal Regulations which are subject to the same SSZ conditions as all other existing non-house classes of development, namely:

1. apartments, and

2. educational / community / sports / healthcare / religious / library buildings, and gas / electricity / telecommunications / water supplies and wastewater services sites.

• The Regulations also contain additional safeguards in respect of glint and glare by way of:
  • an amendment to article 9 of the Principal Regulations which sets out a general restriction that works are not exempted development if they would endanger public safety by reason of hazardous glint and glare for the operation of airports, aerodromes or aircraft, and
  • the addition of a condition in each class of development which provides that “development which causes hazardous glint and/or glare shall not be exempted development and any solar photo-voltaic or solar thermal collector panels which are causing hazardous glint and/or glare shall either be removed or be covered until  such time as a mitigation plan to address the hazardous glint and/or glare is agreed and implemented to the satisfaction of the Planning Authority”.

• Notification Requirements within Solar Safeguarding Zones

The Regulations also provide by way of condition that solar exempted developments within an SSZ for all classes other than houses must be notified to the planning authority within 4 weeks of the development commencing.

The notification requirement is not a consenting requirement and does not require any formal planning document to be completed. The requirement may be satisfied by a letter or email to the planning authority outlining the location and scale of development. A response from the planning authority is not required.

• Solar Exempted Development, Protected Structures and Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs)

The matter of solar exempted development and the potential impact on protected structures and Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs) was a primary consideration of the Department in the development of these regulations.

The provisions contained in sections 57 and 82 of the Planning Act and article 9 of the Principal Regulations provide that development shall not be exempted development if it would materially affect the character of a protected structure or a building in an Architectural Conservation Area.

In this connection, each class of development now also includes a condition in respect of free-standing panels that provides that “the placing or erection of any free-standing solar photo-voltaic or solar thermal collector installation within an Architectural Conservation Area shall only be exempted development if those works would not materially affect the character of the area”.

[Copies of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. 3) Regulations 2022 and the supporting Planning and Development (Solar Safeguarding Zone) Regulations 2022 are available on the Irish Statute Book website www.irishstatutebook.ie .]