A government planning inspector has told a Herefordshire couple they can’t put solar panels on their historic farm cottage.

Neville Fleet of the part-16th-century, grade II listed Park Farm House, Newton St Margarets in the county’s Golden Valley, applied in early 2024 for listed building consent and planning permission to install 16 solar panels on its south-facing roof.

Herefordshire Council’s senior buildings conservation officer Conor Ruttledge said the “incongruous and unrepresentative” panels would “harm the significance” of the building – but suggested a suitably screened ground-mounted array instead.

On this basis the application was refused in May last year, despite planning officer Laura Smith acknowledging its “clear environmental benefits”.

Mr Fleet responded that the proposed panels would not be visible from any road or public footpath, and offered to use “in-roof” panels instead.

But he said that despite prompting council officers on this, he was eventually told merely that “the only way forward is for you to appeal the refusal and see if an inspector agrees with your case”.

This he duly did. But his appeal has now been dismissed by planning inspector B Phillips.

The farmhouse’s “mostly undisturbed roofscape provides a simple and plain vernacular character and an element of authenticity”, they said in their report.

Against this the solar panels would be “a starkly modern intrusion” - though there was a lack of detail on how they would be fixed, how they would project from the roof, and whether they would be matt or gloss.

“This ambiguity is highly undesirable in general terms but especially given that the property is a grade II listed building of national importance,” they added.

Nor had details of the in-roof alternative panels proposed by Mr Fleet been provided, the inspector pointed out.

Dismissing the appeal, they concluded “the harm identified to the significance of the [farmhouse] has not been supported by clear and convincing justification”.

Mr Neville said though he and his wife were “now at a full stop” with the bid, they would continue to pursue alternatives, including solar roof tiles, to power the couple’s two electric cars.

But given a currently competitive overnight car charging rate from their mains supplier, electricity from solar “would be a bonus”, he added.