Will this site get permission?
Draw the red line. See what it costs you.
Before you spend on a consultant, find out what the record says. Enter a site or plot and we screen it against the local authority's actual approval rate and decision times, every planning designation at that point, the agricultural land grade, how much earth has to move to level it (from 1 m LIDAR), how contested the local grid already is, the solar yield with a P90 — and what happened to comparable schemes within 25 km, refusals included.
Significantly constrained — a listed building at the point, against a council that has approved 26 of 26 solar farms.
Read the full sample report →What the appraisal computes
Council record
approval rate + median decision time for this technology, from recorded outcomes
32 designations
Green Belt, AONB, SSSI, scheduled monuments, listed buildings, Article 4, TPOs…
Land grade
agricultural classification — the "best and most versatile" test for solar
Yield + P90
PVGIS annual kWh/kWp at optimal tilt, and the yield beaten in 9 years of 10
Earthworks
fall across the plot, cut/fill volumes and an indicative levelling cost — 1 m LIDAR
Grid context
capacity already contracted nearby, the serving grid supply point and its queue
Comparables
the nearest recorded schemes and what actually happened to them
Appeal record
how often refusals in this authority were overturned on appeal
Free screening shows the headline verdict and the council record. The full appraisal adds every designation with its policy note, land grade, yield with P90 and optimal angles, and the full comparables table.
What does the site screening actually tell me?
Four things, all computed for the exact point you enter. First, how the local planning authority has actually behaved: its approval rate and median decision time for that technology, from recorded government outcomes. Second, every planning designation whose boundary contains the point — we check every constraint type the national platform actually publishes — Green Belt, National Landscape (AONB), National Park, SSSI, SAC/SPA/Ramsar, ancient woodland, scheduled monuments, listed buildings, conservation areas, Article 4 directions, tree preservation zones, air quality management areas, archaeological priority areas and nutrient-neutrality catchments among them. Third, the agricultural land grade, which matters for ground-mounted solar. Fourth, what happened to comparable schemes within 25 km, including the refusals.
Is this planning advice?
No. It is a screening built from open public data, designed to be read before you commission a planning consultant, not instead of one. It tells you what the record says and what designations apply; it cannot weigh landscape or cumulative impact, which are professional judgements and the most common real reasons a scheme is refused. Nothing here predicts an individual decision.
Why does the agricultural land grade matter for solar?
National planning policy expects poorer-quality agricultural land to be used in preference to "best and most versatile" land, which means grades 1, 2 and 3a. A site on grade 3b, 4 or 5 is generally an easier case. One honest limitation: the published survey often maps land as undifferentiated "Grade 3" without splitting 3a from 3b, and only 3a counts as best and most versatile — where that happens we say so rather than guessing, because it takes a site-specific survey to resolve.
Where does the solar yield figure come from?
PVGIS, the European Commission Joint Research Centre’s photovoltaic model, at the optimal tilt and azimuth for your exact coordinates. We report the long-run average annual yield in kWh per kWp, the optimal panel angles, and a P90 — the yield exceeded in nine years out of ten — derived from the year-to-year variability PVGIS publishes. Most tools quote only the average, which flatters a site.
How much will it cost to level a sloping plot?
We answer that from the Environment Agency 1 m LIDAR terrain model: the fall across the plot, the platform level that balances cut against fill, the cut and fill volumes, how much spoil you would cart away (or fill you would need to import), and an indicative cost range at typical earthworks rates. Read it as a worst case — it assumes levelling the entire area, whereas most schemes level only a building platform or use a split-level design, both of which move far less earth. It is a screening figure, not a substitute for a topographic survey and an engineer's design, and it excludes retaining structures, rock and contamination.
What happens if there is a designation you do not recognise?
We list it as "recorded at this point, not assessed" rather than leaving it out. The national planning data platform publishes 220 datasets and adds more over time; we hold an interpretation for the ones it publishes. An unrecognised constraint that silently vanishes from a constraints report reads as an all-clear, which is the single most dangerous thing this kind of report can do — so anything we cannot interpret is still shown to you by name. The same applies to coverage: outside England the designation layer does not exist at all, and we say that instead of showing a tick.
Which technologies and areas are covered?
Solar farms, grid-scale battery storage and onshore wind, across the whole UK. The approval-record layer comes from the Renewable Energy Planning Database, which covers schemes of roughly 150 kW and above in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Designations, agricultural land grade, 1 m LIDAR topography and flood risk are England-only national services, so outside England those sections report as not checked rather than clear. Solar yield works anywhere in Europe.
Sources: Renewable Energy Planning Database (DESNZ, OGL v3.0); planning.data.gov.uk designations and agricultural land classification (MHCLG, OGL v3.0); PVGIS (European Commission JRC). A screening from public data — not planning advice, and not a substitute for a planning consultant or a site survey.
Novarly Parcel · official public data, read properly · parcel.novarly.com
Approval rates by council · Do you need permission? · UK property report