A HOUSEHOLDER has been given permission to place two air source heat pumps on the side of his detached two-storey home. 

Monmouthshire County Council said as the house, in the rural settlement of Twyn Y Sheriff near Raglan, is more than 60 metres from the nearest neighbouring property, and the pumps will not be facing it, their combined noise isn’t likely to be at a level deemed excessive. 

In the application, submitted on behalf of Gary Andrew Ford, it’s stated planning permission is required due to the combined size of two pumps within one site and that each has a noise output of 65 decibels.  

They will be sited within two metres of one another and they won’t be visible as the garden forms a “natural earth bund” around them.  Council policy encourages installation of renewable energy systems where there is no adverse impact.