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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%. 2,410 decisions in the last 12 months.
Welsh Government development management statistics for Wales, January to March 2026. Listed buildings are illustrative.
Decisions in 12 months
2,410
Domestic energy applications only
Approved
84%
UK average 86%
Average decision
14.8 weeks
The authority's own average, as its nation publishes it
Conservation areas
521
Where appearance decides the application
The figures here are the Welsh Government development management statistics for January to March 2026. 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, the approval rate 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.
Wales runs its own permitted development rules, and they are marginally more generous for domestic solar than the English equivalents.
Gwynedd and Powys together produce more than half the nation's refusals, driven by Eryri and the Bannau Brycheiniog National Parks.
No permission needed
Wales has its own permitted development order, marginally more generous for domestic solar than England's, and with separate rules inside National Parks.
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.