Julie James MS, Minister for Climate Change
Today, I published the Air Source Heat Pump Noise & Permitted Development Rights in Wales Phase 1 and Phase 2 reports.
Wales’s current permitted development rights (PDRs) to install an air source heat pump require a minimum 3-metre distance from the neighbour’s boundary, to reduce noise pollution potential.
We wish to encourage residents to transition from fossil fuel heating to low carbon alternatives, but without creating noise nuisance. Therefore, we commissioned acoustics experts to investigate this distance rationale, to obtain and review related evidence, and to recommend whether the PDRs should be changed.
We shall be reviewing the report’s recommendations and shall provide an update in due course.