The planning restriction that means heat pumps need to be one metre from a neighbour’s property has been lifted. Martyn Bridges, director of external affairs at Worcester Bosch, has commented on the update.
We think this is a positive move as most heat pumps today are almost silent, compared to the ones available 14 years ago when this planning requirement was first introduced.
The 1m distance was always a “blunt sword” as this wasn’t measured from the neighbouring house, but the boundary fence. The neighbouring house could have been 4m away from the boundary and therefore oblivious to any noise – deeming the required distance obsolete.
It is thought that as many as 25% of installations couldn’t meet these original requirements, so planning permission had to be sought. Now we are optimistic that removing these barriers should enable a far easier installation route and therefore assist with the increase of heat pump intake.