Planning Requirements for EV Charging Points

Many electric vehicle (EV) charging points benefit from permitted development rights, as set-out within Schedule 2, Part 2, Classes D and E of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended).  

Class D - electrical outlet for recharging vehicles 

If your home has an area lawfully used for off-street parking, it is likely that the installation of an EV home charger will fall under permitted development rights. As such no planning application is required for its installation, providing it does not: 

• Exceed 0.2 cubic metres 

• Face onto and be within two metres of a highway 

• Be within a site designated as a scheduled monument 

• Be within the curtilage of a listed building

Class E - electrical upstand for recharging vehicles 

When installing an upstand with a mounted electrical charging outlet, either at your home or elsewhere, within an area lawfully used for off-street parking, the upstand and outlet must not: 

• Exceed 2.3 metres in height from the level of the surface used for the parking of vehicles. This limit is 1.6 metres where in the curtilage of a dwellinghouse or block of flats 

• Be within two metres of a highway 

• Be within a site designated as a scheduled monument 

• Be within the curtilage of a listed building 

• Result in more than one upstand being provided for each parking space. 

For both Class D and Class E, when the electrical outlet is no longer required as a charging point for electric vehicles, the wall (on which the outlet was mounted) or the land (on which the upstand was placed) must be returned to its previous condition (prior to the installation being carried out) as soon as possible. 

If you live in a property where there is no area which can be lawfully used for off-street parking, which is often the case for terraced properties where parking is on-street only, then planning permission is required. Further information can be found here.