Cross-pavement EV chargers no longer need planning permission: what it means for company cars

What changed

On 21 October 2026 the Department for Transport said drivers no longer need planning permission to install cross-pavement chargers, the channels set into the pavement that carry a charging cable from a house to a car parked on the street. As Stuart Stone reported for BusinessGreen, the change is aimed at people without a driveway. The government puts the saving at up to £300 on installation.

The legal change is SI 2026/1056, an amendment to the permitted development rules for England, which came into force on 21 October 2026. It does three things that matter here:

• A new right for the pavement channel itself. It covers a "cross-pavement solution" installed by, on behalf of, or with the authorisation of the highway authority. It does not apply in conservation areas, the grounds of listed buildings or scheduled monuments, and the pavement must be put back when the channel is no longer needed.
• Home chargers no longer need off-street parking. Wall-mounted chargers and charging posts are now permitted elsewhere on the grounds of a house or block of flats, not just on a driveway, with limits: one outlet under the new wider right, no higher than 1.6 metres, and none in a conservation area.
• The cable must use the channel. Where there is a pavement between the charger and the car, the cable has to cross it through an authorised cross-pavement solution. A wall charger on a wall next to the road must stick out no more than 0.2 metres and leave at least 1.5 metres of pavement.

So planning permission goes, but the council's say over its pavement does not. The Department for Transport also opened two consultations, on charging for tenants and leaseholders and on chargers in new covered car parks, both closing on 16 December 2026.

What it means for your carbon reporting

Many small firms have staff who would take an electric company car or van but have nowhere to charge it overnight. If more of them can now charge at home, more of your fleet miles can move from diesel or petrol to electricity. That moves the emissions from Scope 1 (fuel burned in your vehicles) to Scope 2 (electricity), and in 2026 it cuts them sharply.

The scope follows who owns the vehicle, not where it plugs in:

• Company or leased electric car or van, charged at the driver's home: Scope 2. Use the miles with the government's EV factor, or the kWh you reimburse with the grid electricity factor. Pick one, not both.
• The same vehicle charged at your own premises: the electricity is already on your bill, so it is already in your Scope 2. Leave those miles out.
• An employee's own electric car used on business: grey fleet, Scope 3 category 6, business travel, however it is charged.

Our guide to counting EV charging at home, work and on the road covers each case in more detail.

Aprēķina piemērs

One employee drives 10,000 business miles a year in an average-sized company car or van. Using the government's 2026 factors, the main line for each fuel is:

Switching that one car from diesel to electric cuts its main line by about 84%, and a van by about 83%. These figures leave out the smaller upstream lines (well-to-tank for fuel, grid losses for electricity), which go in Scope 3. For the full picture over a vehicle's life, see the carbon payback of electric company cars.

Kas jādara tagad

1. Ask which drivers park on the street and would switch to electric if they could charge at home. Point them to their council's process for the channel.
2. Decide how you will reimburse home charging, and record either miles or kWh for each vehicle, never both.
3. Keep staff-owned cars separate. If drivers use their own EVs, that stays grey fleet, Scope 3.
4. Count in miles or kWh rather than pounds. As our post on diesel at 200p a litre shows, spend-based figures move with prices, not with your driving.

To compare the running cost and carbon of a particular car before you choose, try the free electric vs petrol car cost and carbon calculator.

Kā palīdz Carbon Recycling

Record each company car or van by its miles and fuel type, or bring a whole mileage log in with the company vehicles CSV template. Carbon Recycling puts electric miles in Scope 2, diesel and petrol in Scope 1, grid losses and well-to-tank in Scope 3, and applies the right year's government factors. When a driver moves from diesel to electric, your report shows it as a dated reduction, about 2.35 tonnes a year for every 10,000miles in the example above, ready for your Carbon Reduction Plan.