Solar Panel Installation
in Hoddesdon

The Hoddesdon Conservation Area was first designated in June 1968 and enlarged in January 1980. The council's adopted appraisal calls 1968 a very early designation, following the 1967 legislation that introduced conservation areas. The area covers the historic Market Place and its northern approaches along the southern end of Amwell Street and Burford Street. It then extends south along the High Street, taking in Cock Lane to the west and Yewlands to the east, with the New River forming much of its south-eastern boundary. The council adopted the appraisal in October 2011, the first in its series of conservation area appraisals. Under Part 14 of the GPDO, being inside this boundary does not by itself stop panels on a house's pitched roof slope within the 0.2-metre and roof-height limits. In practice, we confirm whether your house is inside the boundary and keep panels off any wall, balcony or roof enclosure fronting a highway. For a flat-roof array, we ask the council to decide whether prior approval is needed before fitting it.

The council's 2011 appraisal describes roofs in Hoddesdon's historic core as mostly simple steep pitches with gable ends. They are a mix of clay tile, which is predominant, and natural slate, with some old handmade clay tiles that give the roofs an undulating finish. The appraisal explains that clay plain tiles gave way to slate in the Classical and Georgian period and were revived in the early 20th century. Most of the area's traditional materials came from local or regional sources; the exception was Welsh slate, brought in first by canal and then in greater volumes by the railways. The appraisal also counts about 45 listed buildings in the conservation area. Clay tile, handmade tile and slate each need fixings suited to that covering, and listed houses fall outside the permitted development rights for solar. So at survey we identify the covering, check its condition and confirm whether the building is listed before choosing a mounting system or quoting.

Only an Article 4 Direction can remove the permitted development rights for panels on a house's roof slope on particular streets, so its status in Hoddesdon matters. The 2011 appraisal suggested considering Article 4 Directions for certain properties where features such as windows, doors and chimneys were at definite risk of loss. Broxbourne Borough Council's March 2023 Hoddesdon Town Centre Strategy then recorded that no such historic-environment direction was in place in Hoddesdon. It proposed extending the conservation area to include Burford Place on Haslewood Avenue. Once that was done, it said, a direction should be made covering windows, roofs, doors, chimneys and painting at Burford Place and at the terraced houses at 7 to 19 Bell Lane. We have not confirmed whether that direction has since been made. If your home is on either street, we check the council's current position before designing anything on your roof.

Census 2021 counts 4,205 households in the Hoddesdon Town and Rye Park ward: 31.4% in semi-detached houses, 30.3% terraced, 25.2% in purpose-built flats and 8.2% detached. On tenure, 62.7% owned their home, 22.3% rented privately and 14.1% rented socially. The neighbouring Hoddesdon North ward, with 3,779 households, has a higher share of houses and owners: 36.9% semi-detached, 15.2% detached, 17.3% in purpose-built flats and 75.8% owner-occupied. These are ward figures rather than totals for the whole town. The conservation area appraisal also notes the nine-storey residential Hoddesdon Tower, built around 1965 to 1966, to the north of the Market Place. A quarter of Hoddesdon Town and Rye Park households live in purpose-built flats and more than a third rent, so we confirm who owns the roof and whose consent is needed before arranging a survey.

Hoddesdon's local electricity network is operated by UK Power Networks. Its 2014 regional development plan for the Elstree and Rye House grid supply points, in its Eastern Power Networks area, listed Hoddesdon among ten primary substations supplied from Rye House Grid. The plan also marked the 11kV circuit breakers at Hoddesdon Primary for asset replacement. In May 2021, Electrical Review reported that UK Power Networks was spending £6 million to upgrade a Hoddesdon substation supplying more than 60,000 homes and businesses in Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Hertford and Ware, replacing transformers installed in the 1950s. For your home, G98 covers generation up to and including 16 A per phase (3.68 kW single-phase), notified within 28 days after commissioning; above that, G99 applies before installation, and MCS says adding a battery to solar is likely to exceed 16 A per phase. So we check your system size against G98 early and build any G99 application into the timeline.