It has been reported in the local press recently that solar panels are not being allowed on some school roofs due to ‘listed building’ status.

Over ten years ago I did an alternative energy course and even then, there were many different types of solar panels available, from the larger everyday ones we see on roofs through to those smaller ones which look like slates, tiles or stone slabs.

Surely in this day and age where we are trying to use more readily available energy such as that from the sun, we ought to be encouraging the installation of solar panels, not only on schools or other ‘listed’ buildings but on all new and modified roofs, whether that be houses, factories, barns or any other building.

If this approach was used some of our listed buildings would still appear ‘the same’ to the onlooker. It would also increase the sales of solar panels, with the result that more research and development could take place, thereby making the solar panels cheaper to produce and purchase.

Douglas Beazer

Beaminster