Heat Pumps and Planning Permission — A Leicester Homeowner's Guide
Last reviewed: 2 October 2026
In most Leicester homes a heat pump is permitted development and needs no application. This guide covers the exceptions — the city's 25 conservation areas, listed buildings and tight terraced back yards — and which council to deal with.
Most Leicester homes don’t need an application
Fitting an air source heat pump to a house in England is usually permitted development, so you can go ahead without a planning application. That’s true for the great majority of Leicester’s terraces, semis and estate homes.
The rules, which come from Class G of Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order, were relaxed on 29 May 2025. The old requirement for the unit to be at least a metre from your boundary went, which made a big difference in narrow terraced back yards.
What’s still required:
- the outdoor unit is 1.5 cubic metres or smaller
- one unit per house (two on a detached house)
- it isn’t on a pitched roof, or within a metre of a flat roof’s edge
- an MCS 020(a) noise calculation shows 37 dB(A) or less at the nearest neighbouring habitable room
The back-yard noise test
In Leicester this is the condition most likely to matter. Streets of Victorian through-terraces in Clarendon Park, Highfields, the West End and Belgrave often have back yards just a few metres wide, with a neighbour’s kitchen or bedroom window close by.
The installer calculates the noise at that window, allowing for distance and any solid barrier in between. Ways to pass:
- choose a quieter model
- move the unit further from the neighbour’s window, perhaps to the end of the yard or beside the back alley (the “jitty” in Leicester terms), if you own that land
- put a solid fence or wall between the unit and the window
If none of that works, you can still apply for full planning permission, but it isn’t guaranteed.
Conservation areas
Leicester has 25 conservation areas, including Stoneygate, Castle Gardens, Ashleigh Road, Loughborough Road and St Pauls. In a conservation area, permitted development applies with one additional condition: the unit can’t be on a wall or roof facing a highway.
- Back yard, back wall or side wall away from the road: usually fine
- Front of the house, or a side wall facing a street: planning permission needed
Some conservation areas also have Article 4 directions that remove particular permitted development rights, often for front-facing changes like windows, doors and boundary walls. Check with Leicester City Council whether one affects your street before work starts.
Listed buildings
If your home is listed, permitted development doesn’t apply. You’ll need listed building consent for the outdoor unit and any new openings through historic walls. There’s no fee, and decisions typically take around eight weeks.
Which council?
| Where you live | Planning authority |
|---|---|
| Within the city (Stoneygate, Clarendon Park, Aylestone, Evington, Western Park and others) | Leicester City Council |
| Oadby, Wigston | Oadby & Wigston Borough Council |
| Birstall | Charnwood Borough Council |
Each handles householder applications and listed building consent for its area.
Applying if you need to
- Your installer prepares a site plan, unit details and the noise assessment.
- You submit a householder planning application (and listed building consent, if relevant), usually via the Planning Portal.
- Neighbours are notified and the council normally decides within eight weeks.
Conservation officers tend to support low-carbon heating when the unit is unobtrusive. Rear positions, neutral colours and compact units help.
Do this before the grant voucher. An air source heat pump voucher under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme only lasts a limited time, so secure consent before your installer applies. Our grant application timeline explains the order.
Flats
Permitted development for flats is more restricted than for houses, and you’ll need the freeholder’s permission to attach a unit to the building or put it in a shared space. Ask your installer to check both before quoting.
In summary
| Your home | Planning permission? |
|---|---|
| House, not listed, not in a conservation area, noise test passes | No |
| In a conservation area, unit at the back | Usually no |
| In a conservation area, unit facing the road | Yes |
| Listed building | Listed building consent needed |
| Noise test fails | Yes, full application |
For more on period homes, see heat pumps in Victorian houses.
See what a heat pump would look like in your Leicester home
The mechanism is the same in every UK home; the design is specific to yours. Our team carries out a free in-home survey including a full room-by-room heat-loss calculation, identifies the system size and configuration that fits your property, and provides a written quote with the £7,500 BUS grant already deducted.
You'll see the actual figure you'd pay — not an estimate — and the projected efficiency for your specific install.