Millions Without Driveways Shut Out of New EV Charging Rules in Conservation Areas

Households in England’s conservation areas will be left out of new rules that let residents without a driveway charge an electric car from home, after the government removed them from the legislation less than a month before it takes effect. The change comes into force on 21 October, and it means people living in roughly 10,000 conservation areas will still need full planning permission to install a cross-pavement charging solution.

What the New Rules Were Meant to Do

The new permitted development right was designed to remove one of the main obstacles facing EV owners who park on the street. Until now, running a charging cable from a house to a car parked at the kerb has typically needed planning permission, approval under the Highways Act 1980 and a separate street works consent. From 21 October, the planning application drops away for qualifying installations, such as a channel or gully set into the pavement to carry the cable safely below the surface.

Ministers presented the change as a way to open home charging to families who have been put off buying an electric car by having to rely on public chargers. Highway authorities keep control of what goes into the footway, so a council still decides whether an installation can go ahead outside any particular house.

The Late Exclusion

The government confirmed on 25 September that conservation areas would sit outside the new right, along with listed buildings. According to figures reported by The Times, around 6.8 million people live in those areas, and roughly 3.4 million of them have no off-street parking. With electric cars making up about 6.2 per cent of the national fleet, the paper estimates that around 100,000 EV owners will miss out on the new right unless they secure planning permission.

The cost difference is substantial. Charging at home typically works out at around 7p per mile, against roughly 15p per mile at a public charger, so drivers left relying on the public network can expect to pay about twice as much to run their cars.

One landowner in a conservation area told The Times that the exclusion had not been raised during the consultation, saying, ‘The final legislation excludes conservation areas, despite this not being previously flagged in consultation.’

What the Government Says

A government spokesman said: “We want to support households without off-street parking to access domestic electric vehicle charging.” He added that protecting the special character of conservation areas remained a priority. Residents in those areas can still apply for planning permission in the usual way, and local authorities have the power to grant blanket permission across an entire area if they choose to.

The exclusion lands at a sensitive moment for the shift to electric cars. In August, the government set out plans to relax its targets for electric car sales, saying the existing rules were not working and that uptake had been slower than expected. Under the current law, only a fifth of new cars sold in 2030 would be allowed petrol or diesel engines. The proposed changes could leave around half of new cars still carrying a combustion engine by the end of the decade.

What It Means if You Live in a Conservation Area

Nothing changes on 21 October for residents in a conservation area. A cross-pavement installation still needs a planning application, as it does today, along with the highway authority’s approval. Trailing a loose cable across the pavement remains prohibited by most councils, whatever the planning position, and a resident can be held responsible if someone trips over it.

Councils publish their conservation area boundaries online, usually as a map searchable by postcode. Anyone planning to install a charging channel should check that first, and ask the council whether it intends to use its power to grant area-wide permission.