Solar panels in Bexley: suburban roofs, small conservation areas and a few protected streets

Most homes in Bexley can have solar panels fitted without a planning application. The borough's heritage controls are tightly drawn: they cover named groups of houses in a handful of conservation areas, and what they control is mostly roofing materials rather than the panels themselves.

Bexley's 23 conservation areas

Bexley Council lists 23 conservation areas, each with its own appraisal and management plan. They range from village centres such as Old Bexley, North Cray Village and Foots Cray, to Sidcup's cluster (The Green, Christ Church, The Hollies, The Oval, Halfway Street, Longlands Road, Old Forge Way and Willersley Avenue and Braundton Avenue), to the riverside areas at Erith and Crossness. The council also records over 150 statutory listed buildings and around 400 locally listed ones.

Being in a conservation area does not, on its own, stop solar. Under the national rules, the restriction in a conservation area applies to panels on a wall fronting a highway, not to a roof slope. Panels on a pitched roof, including a front roof slope, are normally permitted development as long as they sit no more than 0.2 m proud of the roof and below the ridge. Since 27 August 2026, a flat roof in a conservation area needs a short prior approval application to the council first. Be aware that several of the council's appraisals take a cautious view of visible panels, so a careful layout on the rear slope is often the sensible choice even where it is not required. Our guide to planning permission for solar panels in London explains the national rules in more detail.

Article 4 directions on Bexley houses

Four conservation areas have Article 4 directions that affect specific houses: Brook Street in Northumberland Heath, Old Bexley, Old Forge Way in Sidcup and Red House Lane in Bexleyheath. We read the council's published text for all four. None of them mentions solar panels or microgeneration. The Old Forge Way direction dates from 1988 and the Brook Street direction from the mid 1990s, both before householder solar rights existed, so they cannot have removed them. The Old Bexley and Red House Lane documents are not dated, so we check the direction for each address before quoting.

What several of them do control is the roof itself. The Old Bexley direction covers a change of roofing materials on named houses along North Cray Road and Bexley High Street, Old Forge Way covers roofing and, for some houses, external alterations to any part of the roof, and Red House Lane covers roofing on certain elevations. If your roof needs replacing before panels go on, that roofing work may need permission even though the solar does not. See whether you need a new roof before solar.

Listed buildings: Red House and Crossness

Bexley's best known listed buildings sit inside conservation areas. Red House in Bexleyheath, designed for William Morris by Philip Webb, is Grade I listed and owned by the National Trust, and the Crossness Pumping Station buildings in Belvedere are also listed. If you own a listed home anywhere in the borough, solar needs planning permission and listed building consent.

Flats and the grid

Since 27 August 2026, blocks of flats have permitted development rights for solar for the first time. The right belongs to the block, so the freeholder or management company leads, not an individual flat owner.

Bexley is served by UK Power Networks. Most home systems are notified to them under G98, while larger systems need G99 approval before connection. We handle the DNO paperwork as part of every installation, and our guide to DNOs and export limits explains how this affects system size.

If you live in Bexley and want to know what your roof can take, we check the designations for your address before we quote. You can request a solar and battery quotation and we will take it from there.

Local planning information checked against London Borough of Bexley sources on 28 October 2026. Planning designations change, so this is general guidance, not advice for a specific property.