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Most domestic energy work needs no application at all. The work that does is where projects stall — and the odds differ by authority, and by whether the property sits in a conservation area.
UK average 86%. 1,180 decisions in the last 12 months.
Department for Infrastructure planning statistics for Northern Ireland, 2025/26 to date. Listed buildings are illustrative.
Decisions in 12 months
1,180
Domestic energy applications only
Approved
96.7%
Of every planning decision here, not just domestic work
Average decision
17.7 weeks
The authority's own average, as its nation publishes it
Conservation areas
67
Where appearance decides the application
The figures here are the Department for Infrastructure planning statistics for 2025/26 to date. They count every kind of development, and only work that needed an application: most domestic solar and many heat pumps are permitted development and never appear. Listed buildings are a placeholder — the Planning Data platform holds them with no authority against them. Illustrative: the decision count and conservation areas, which this nation doesn't publish.
Local knowledge
Applications are rarely refused because the technology is unwelcome. They are refused on appearance, noise or paperwork, and two of those three are fixable before you apply.
Northern Ireland has its own planning system with eleven councils, and the permitted development rules for heat pumps differ from Great Britain's.
Boundary distance is cited in refusals more often here than anywhere else, because so much of the stock is detached with narrow side passages.
No permission needed
Northern Ireland has its own planning system and eleven councils. The permitted development rules for heat pumps differ from Great Britain's, and are narrower in places.
It costs a fraction of a full application and takes about eight weeks. It is the piece of paper a buyer's solicitor asks for in five years' time, and the one nobody has.
Councils
The same measure, on the same kind of house, decided differently depending on which side of a line it sits. This is the single largest source of variation in whether domestic energy work happens.
Domestic energy applications decided in the last 12 months.
Authorities with large conservation area or National Park coverage sit at the bottom of every list like this one.
Median weeks from validation to decision.
The statutory target for a householder application is eight weeks. The UK median across the areas we cover is 8.
Illustrative. Placeholder figures to show what this page will hold. Real ranges arrive with the quote and performance data behind them.
Questions
Conservation area, listed building, National Park — all of it is recorded against the property. We'll tell you which apply before you pay for a survey.