What the council committed to
On 21 May 2019 Cheshire West and Chester Council unanimously declared that the borough is in a climate emergency (the council’s climate emergency page). It set two targets: the council as an organisation carbon neutral by 2030, and the borough as a whole carbon neutral by 2045, five years ahead of the UK’s 2050 legal target. A Climate Emergency Response Plan covers the borough; a separate Carbon Management Plan covers the council’s own buildings and fleet.
None of that changes what you are required to do with your own home. There is no local rule that says a Chester house must have solar, and there is no local planning relaxation beyond the national rules, which already allow roof panels on most houses. What the declaration has produced is a set of schemes, mostly run with neighbouring councils, and a lot of public information.
The schemes you will meet
Switch Together Solar
The council’s group-buy, run with Cheshire East Council, Warrington Borough Council and iChoosr Ltd. Households register in a round, vetted MCS installers bid in a reverse auction, and each household gets a personal offer it can accept or decline. In the 2023, 2024 and 2025 rounds, 473 people in the borough had solar panels or a battery fitted through it; the latest registration window closed on 25 September 2026 (council page). Our Switch Together guide weighs it against getting your own quotes.
Warm Homes: Local Grant
For lower-income households in EPC D to G homes, run for west Cheshire with Cheshire East Council handling enquiries and eligibility checks, until 31 March 2028 (council support schemes). It can include solar panels as part of a package aimed at lifting the home by two EPC bands. The council’s climate page notes that over 18,000 households in the borough are in fuel poverty, which is the group this grant is designed for. See grants and funding.
How fast solar has spread
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes the number of solar PV sites in each local authority every year (renewable electricity by local authority). For Cheshire West and Chester the count went from 5,759 at the end of 2019 to 10,124 at the end of 2024 and 11,740 at the end of 2025. Across the 2019 to 2025 figures, the two biggest yearly increases came in 2024 and 2025.
Against about 155,200 households, that is around 7.6 sites per 100 households. The figure is an upper bound for homes, because the count includes schools, farms, businesses and solar farms; it still means panels on a Chester street are no longer unusual.
What it means if you are thinking about panels
- The planning rules are national. A climate emergency does not relax them further, and conservation areas and listed buildings work the same way as anywhere in England. Use the planning checker.
- Council schemes come in windows. If you want to try Switch Together, watch for the next round rather than waiting indefinitely; a firm you find yourself can quote at any time.
- There is no climate grant for solar. Outside the Warm Homes: Local Grant, households pay for their own systems, with 0% VAT until 31 March 2027.
- Plenty of neighbours have done it. Ask them which installer they used and how the paperwork went; it is the cheapest due diligence there is. Then check the firm on the registers in our guide to choosing an installer.
This site is independent of the council and of every scheme mentioned here. We link to the council’s pages so you can check the details at source.