The short answer for Kingsbury
Planning authority
London Borough of Brent
Postcode district
NW9
Conservation areas
Two, both under Article 4
First in Brent
Roe Green Village, 1968
Not sure you are in Kingsbury? Check your area
Yes, we cover Kingsbury. It is in Brent, and its two conservation areas, Roe Green Village and Buck Lane, are both planned estates under Article 4 directions. Brent's 2024 directions, as published, do not list Class G, the air source heat pump right that a wall mounted air conditioner falls under. Roe Green is the garden village built for First World War aircraft workers, and Buck Lane is Ernest Trobridge's hilltop estate of timber houses and castle themed flats. The directions remove the right for solar equipment, water source heat pumps and wind turbines, so the national rule still applies, and in a conservation area it says the outdoor unit cannot go on a wall or roof that fronts a highway, or nearer the road than the house. Brent's design guide for Roe Green does not mention air conditioning either way, so for a house inside either area we raise it at the survey and suggest you confirm with Brent before anything is ordered.
Wall mounted systems start from £1,995 fully installed, and the price does not change with the postcode.
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Both directions skip the air source heat pump class
Brent's Article 4 directions for Roe Green Village and Buck Lane were made on 18 July 2024, came into force on 1 August 2024 and were confirmed on 30 January 2025. Each lists Part 14 Classes A, D and H of the General Permitted Development Order, which cover solar equipment, water source heat pumps and wind turbines. Neither lists Part 14 Class G, the air source heat pump class. Part 1 Class G, for chimneys and flues, is a different Class G and is listed. That is how the schedules read, and it is why the conservation area limit in the national rule matters more here than the direction does.
Roe Green Village, where the plan is the point
Sir Frank Baines, the Office of Works architect, was commissioned in 1916 to design an estate of cottages for workers at the Aircraft Manufacturing Company, and building began in 1918. Brent made it its first conservation area in November 1968. Its design guide says the character comes from the estate's village feel and well preserved appearance: cottages in pairs and short terraces, narrow curving roads, boundary hedges and a village green.
A planned group is judged as a whole. Brent's guide notes that some end of terrace homes have large side gardens instead of rear ones, and that these are especially visible because they face the main road. On those plots the side wall is not a hidden place.
The guide does not mention air conditioning or air source heat pumps. Its nearest rule is for satellite dishes, which Brent has controlled here since June 1990: out of the sightline of neighbours, and not on the chimney, the roof or an elevation facing the street. It prefers ground source heat pumps and says most other external installations will require planning permission.
Buck Lane, where some of the flats are castles
Buck Lane was designated in February 1979 because of the work of the architect Ernest Trobridge. It centres on the crossroads at the top of Wakeman's Hill, which Brent's appraisal gives as the highest point in the borough at 92 metres, and it was developed between 1929 and 1937.
Much of it is flats. The appraisal describes Rochester Court as faced in stone in imitation of Rochester Castle, and Highfort Court and Whitecastle Mansions as having crenellated rooflines, turrets and arrowslits. On a block the freeholder decides first, and Class G allows only one air source heat pump on a block of flats, so several units on one block need an application.
3 and 5 Buck Lane, two of Trobridge's timber framed houses of 1926, are listed Grade II, since 21 February 2003. Class G does not apply to a listed building or the land within its curtilage, so there the answer is an application, and listed building consent is a separate matter.
What the housing actually is
Households by accommodation type at the 2021 Census, for the two wards that cover Kingsbury's conservation areas. In Kingsbury ward the largest published category is purpose built flats, at 1,490, just ahead of semi detached homes at 1,390.
| Ward | Households | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Purpose built flats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsbury | 3,784 | 149 | 1,390 | 476 | 1,490 |
| Queensbury | 5,386 | 294 | 2,297 | 1,055 | 1,387 |
ONS Census 2021, table TS044, accommodation type by household, as at 21 March 2021, on the 2022 ward boundaries, both wards in Brent. Only the categories ONS publishes are shown; the remaining households are in converted or shared houses, other converted buildings, commercial buildings or temporary structures. Buck Lane lies wholly in Kingsbury ward. Roe Green Village lies almost entirely in Queensbury ward, not Kingsbury ward, on those boundaries.
What applies to you
A house inside Roe Green Village or Buck Lane
Class G is not removed by the directions as written, but the conservation area limit applies: no unit on a wall or roof that fronts a highway, or nearer a bounding road than the house. On an end of terrace plot that can rule out the side. Brent's guide dates from 2018 and says nothing on air conditioning, so we raise it at the survey and suggest you confirm with Brent. If an application is needed, the guide says that since 17 January 2018 there is no exemption from the planning fee for Article 4 sites.
A flat or maisonette, in either area
Brent's Roe Green guide says flats and maisonettes there have no permitted development rights and external works need planning permission. Class G does cover blocks of flats, but allows one heat pump per block and a compressor of no more than 0.6 cubic metres. Either way the freeholder's written consent comes first. Above the first floor a condensate pump may be needed, priced as a line on the quote.
A listed building
3 and 5 Buck Lane are Grade II. Permitted development for a heat pump does not apply to a listed building or within its curtilage, so this is an application and a separate question of listed building consent.
A house elsewhere in Kingsbury
Brent's extensions guidance says air source heat pumps above ground floor level and in visually prominent places, such as the front or side walls, are generally unacceptable, and that a small space such as a side return restricts air flow. Brent notes that guidance is not intended for conservation areas or listed buildings. NW9 also covers parts of Barnet, so we confirm your council from your address.
Your planning authority is London Borough of Brent
They decide any application for your address, and they publish the conservation area maps you would need to check it. We do not submit applications on your behalf, but we will tell you at the survey if one is likely and give you the unit dimensions and position to put on the form.
London Borough of Brent conservation areasWhat we would fit in Kingsbury
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