Who runs it
Published by SEO-DONS LTD (company no. 16766013), 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ. SEO-DONS LTD is a search-marketing company. You can check the company on the Companies House register. The site is written and checked under the name SEO Dons.
What it does
- Explains the planning route for solar on Chester homes, including the city’s thirteen conservation areas and its listed buildings, from the legislation itself.
- Shows what panels make on Chester roofs, from the European Commission’s PVGIS model run for the city.
- Turns the government’s own cost data and Census 2021 into figures for Chester’s house types and wards.
- Sets out the checks that protect you when you choose an installer, and what a proper quote contains.
- Answers questions sent through the form, by email.
What it does not do
- It does not install, sell, survey or design anything.
- It does not name, rank or recommend installers.
- It is not run by, or connected with, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Switch Together Solar or any government scheme.
- It does not arrange finance or loans and is not authorised to give financial advice.
- It does not take phone calls; the form is the way to reach us.
How the facts are checked
Every figure on the site comes from a primary source: legislation.gov.uk for planning, the council’s own pages for local schemes and conservation areas, the Office for National Statistics for Census data, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for costs and solar take-up, and PVGIS for output. Each page lists its sources at the foot, and the sources page explains how each dataset was used. Pages show the date they were last reviewed; this version was checked on .
Where a rule depends on a decision only the council can make, such as whether your street has an Article 4 direction, we say so and point you to the council rather than guess.
The protections we point you to
Because we do not vet or recommend installers, the site shows you how to use the protections that already exist. These are the ones we explain on the installer checks page:
- MCS certification for solar PV, which is also what makes a system eligible for export payments.
- A consumer code approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, such as RECC or HIES, covering deposits, contracts and complaints.
- An insurance-backed guarantee that keeps a workmanship warranty alive if the installer stops trading, alongside the manufacturers’ panel and inverter warranties.
- TrustMark registration, a further check some schemes require.
- Companies House, to see how long a firm has traded and whether its accounts are filed.
- A written quote with no obligation, and a cancellation period if you sign a contract at home.
Questions you send
SEO-DONS LTD runs this guide as part of its business. If you send a question, it comes to SEO-DONS LTD and we answer by email; the privacy notice says exactly what happens to what you send. The guide itself mentions no installers.
Corrections
Rules, prices and schemes change. If you spot something out of date or wrong, use the form below and say which page; we check every report against the source and correct the page.
The ground rules for using the site are in the terms of use, and the contact page takes questions and corrections. Browse all the guides, or start with the planning guide, the roof output estimator or the installer checks.