The short answer
Flats are 10.5% of households in Congleton West and 7.6% in Congleton East. In any block, the building owner and the leases decide whether panels go on the roof; no single flat owner can. If the building is listed, planning permission and Listed Building Consent follow. In a conservation area, walls of blocks need permission.
How many Congleton homes are flats
The 2021 Census puts flats, maisonettes and apartments at 10.5% of households in Congleton West and 7.6% in Congleton East, against 10.5% across Cheshire East (Census 2021 on Nomis). It is a small share of the town, but a distinct one, because every one of those homes shares its roof with somebody else. The ward breakdown is on homes by ward.
The Census does not say which flats are in converted industrial buildings and which are in purpose-built blocks. The town’s history explains why both exist: the 2010 Moody Street appraisal describes how the silk mill of 1755 led to other textile factories, and how some mills later stood empty or were turned to new uses (2010 appraisal). The planning questions below apply to any building divided into flats, whatever it once was.
The order in which decisions fall
- The building owner. Whoever owns the building, usually the landlord named in the leases or a company the leaseholders control, owns or manages the roof. Without their agreement nothing goes up.
- The leases. Each lease sets out what is demised to the flat, what stays with the landlord, and what alterations need consent. Clauses on the roof, the outside walls and electrical installations matter most.
- The other residents. Where the cost would come through the service charge, the lease and the law on service charges may require consultation before work of that size goes ahead.
- The council. Only once the building side is settled does planning come in: listing, the conservation area and the type of fixing decide which route applies.
Starting with the council, or with a firm’s quote, reverses that order and usually wastes effort. The managing agent is the best first contact, because it knows who holds the roof and how proposals are put forward.
Two ways to use a shared roof
A system on a block of flats can be connected in one of two broad ways.
- To the landlord’s supply. Panels feed the circuits that serve shared areas: stair lighting, entry systems, lifts and any communal heating plant. The benefit appears in the cost of running the building, which the service charge covers. This is often the tidiest arrangement, because one party owns, insures and maintains the system.
- To individual flats. Panels are divided between several flats’ supplies, each with its own inverter or a share of a larger system. Every resident gets a direct benefit, but the wiring is more complex, and agreements are needed for access, repairs and what happens when a flat changes hands.
Either way, the system connects to the local electricity network and has to be notified or approved by the network operator. Find yours with the ENA postcode search, and see grid connection for when approval comes before installation.
Planning rules for blocks
Part 14 of the permitted development order treats panels on the roof slope of a block of flats in the same way as on a house: allowed without an application where they stand out by 0.2 m or less and the ridge, or highest point, stays above them. A flat roof allows up to 0.6 m above the roof, and on land in a conservation area a flat-roof installation needs a prior approval decision from the council before work starts.
Walls are where blocks differ. In a conservation area, panels on any wall of a block of flats fall outside permitted development and need planning permission. Much of central Congleton lies in the West Street and Moody Street conservation areas, so check the boundary first: the conservation areas page has the details. The rules quoted here are those in force after the 2026 amending order, which also set out where plug-in panels may go.
If the building is listed
Some former industrial buildings are listed, and listing applies to the whole building, flats and all. Any panel on a listed building, whatever its size or position, needs planning permission and Listed Building Consent. Check the building on Historic England’s listed building search before anything else is drawn. A listed block adds a layer of drawings and a heritage statement to the leasehold steps above; listed buildings explains what goes into the application.
Plug-in panels and balconies
Small plug-in kits appeal to people in flats because they need no roof. From 27 August 2026 they count as solar PV for planning purposes, and the amended order sets limits on where they may go. They may not be fixed to timber walls, timber balconies, timber enclosures or any timber-clad part of a building. On a block of flats in a conservation area, wall-mounted positions need planning permission.
Planning is only one hurdle. Most leases restrict what can be fixed to the outside of the building, and a balcony rail is usually part of the structure the landlord controls. A kit hung without consent can breach the lease even where the planning rules would allow it. Ask the managing agent in writing, describe the kit and its fixing, and keep the reply. Renting a flat adds the landlord’s consent on top: see renters and landlords.
Old mill roofs
Mill and warehouse roofs vary a great deal: long pitched slopes covered in slate, shallow pitches, flat sections and roof lights. Each type brings different fixing questions. Slate needs careful lifting and refixing; flat roofs need ballasted or fixed frames and a check that the deck can bear them; roof lights and parapets cast shade that a site survey should measure. The 2010 appraisal’s description of slate roofs and millstone grit in the town centre is summarised in history and roofs.
A large roof can carry far more panels than a single house, which changes the grid paperwork and the price per kilowatt. The government’s 2025/26 figures, set out on costs in Congleton, show larger domestic systems costing a little less per kW, though access equipment and consent work on a tall building can absorb that difference.
Insurance, repairs and the long term
Panels last for decades, and so do leases. Any agreement for a shared roof should say who insures the system, who pays to remove and refit the panels when the roof covering needs work, and who owns the equipment if the building is sold. Buildings insurance for the block will usually need to be told. If the panels serve individual flats, the agreement should also say what a buyer of each flat takes on, because a solicitor acting for a purchaser will ask. Settling these points before installation is far easier than after.
A practical sequence
Ask the managing agent who controls the roof and what the leases allow. Check listing and the conservation area boundary. Decide whether the system would serve the shared areas or individual flats. Only then ask firms for quotes, giving them the answers to those three questions so the quotes can be compared. The roof and route check sorts the planning side for a given building, and the question form takes anything it does not cover.