Scotland does not use the English order. Its householder rights are their own classes, set out in Planning Circular 1/2024.
| Condition | What it says |
|---|---|
| Projection | No part may protrude more than 1 metre from the surface of the wall, roof plane, roof ridge or chimney |
| Listed buildings | Not permitted on a listed building, or within the curtilage of one |
| Conservation areas | Permitted provided the equipment is on a rear elevation, or a side elevation that does not front a road |
| Removal | Must be removed as soon as reasonably practical once no longer needed, or no longer able to generate |
| Condition | What it says |
|---|---|
| Projection | Not more than 500 mm from the external wall, roof plane, ridge or chimney of the building it is fixed to |
| Which buildings | A building within the curtilage of the dwelling, but not one in the front curtilage |
So a panel on the back of a garage or a garden store is covered, at half the allowance of the house itself. A structure at the front of the property is not.
It makes no mention of plug-in solar, wooden walls, balconies or timber cladding.
England introduced a specific prohibition on plug-in solar fixed to wooden walls, balconies and timber cladding on 27 August 2026. There is no equivalent in the Scottish householder rights, and the Scottish guidance does not deal with plug-in solar as a category at all.
An absence is not an approval. What we can say is that Scottish permitted development carries no timber exclusion and does not address plug-in solar specifically, so the general solar classes are what apply. What we will not say is that a timber balcony is approved in Scotland, because nobody has published that. If it matters to your plan, put the question to your planning authority in writing.
Source: Planning Circular 1/2024, read 13 September 2026.
If your case sits near one of these lines, tell us the detail and we will look.
Most of what is written about plug-in solar in the UK describes English rules. Send us a postcode and we will tell you which of the two Scottish operators covers it, what the device would make there, and which permitted development class applies to what you have in mind.