Solar shading planning trends
The solar shading planning index stands at 306: solar shading takes three times its 2016 share of planning applications, 43% above three years earlier.
Solar shading applications since 2016
Solar shading applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA step up in 2022
Solar shading took 0.5 to 0.6 in every 10,000 applications from 2016 to 2021, then 1.3 in 2022. The step coincides with Part O of England's Building Regulations, which from 15 June 2022 required new homes to limit unwanted solar gain in summer.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 22 solar shading applications in Q3 2026, too few to compare their share with a year earlier.
Solar shading applications each quarter
22 in Q3 2026, against 13 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 2.1 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 1.2 a year earlier.
Where solar shading applications concentrate
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Westminster
London · 2.8 in every 10,000 17 -
Camden
London · 4.4 in every 10,000 13 -
Bristol
South West · 2.7 in every 10,000 10 -
South Cambridgeshire
East of England · 5.0 in every 10,000 10 -
Hammersmith & Fulham
London · 3.7 in every 10,000 8 -
Barnet
London · 1.3 in every 10,000 7 -
Bromley
London · 1.7 in every 10,000 7 -
Harrow
London · 1.8 in every 10,000 7 -
North Somerset
South West · 3.7 in every 10,000 7 -
Oxford
South East · 3.6 in every 10,000 7
Latest solar shading applications
- 1 Brocks Lane Long Ashton Proposed upgrade of existing roofing including the raising of ridge height, formation of 3no. West dormers, installation of East rooflights and addition of external shading to windows on the east Elevation.
- Plough And Harrow Llangyfelach Road Brynhyfryd Swansea Retrospective application for extension of existing enclosed timber decked area to rear of property and installation of a wall mounted television with timber sunshade
- 131 Coombe Lane, London, Merton Proposed ground floor rear & side extension, facade alterations to the rear, fence changes, brise soleil, solar panels, raised patio and all associated works at 131 Coombe Lane, SW20 0QY
- Buchan House 8 Derny Avenue Stratford London Installation of Brise Soleil and alterations to the existing Juliet balcony railings.
- 11 Kings Close, Henley-on-Thames Installation of a powder-coated aluminium brise-soleil with fixed horizontal louvres to the front elevation of the existing dwelling. (Schedule 1 application under the 2026 Regulations)
- 307-309 Dorset Council Campus, The Compass Learning Centre Chickerell Road Weymouth Additional 3m high fencing to the boundary and solar shading canopies to the main school building.
Questions
How many solar shading planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 501 since January 2016, 72 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to June 2024.
Which councils get the most solar shading applications?
Westminster, Camden and Bristol have received the most since 2016.
Are solar shading applications rising or falling?
Rising again. Solar shading's share fell from 1.6 in every 10,000 applications in the 12 months to May 2024 to 0.8 a year later, and stood at 1.7 in September 2026, 43% above three years earlier.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
Solar shading applications cover brise soleil, external louvres, shading fins and other fixed screens that keep the sun off glazing.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names solar shading or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent solar shading applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The solar shading planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2021 inserted Part O into Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations 2010 from 15 June 2022, requiring reasonable provision in new dwellings to limit unwanted solar gains in summer. legislation.gov.uk