From 1 October 2008 installing a fuel tank will be considered to be permitted development, not needing planning permission, subject to the following limits and conditions:

• Not more than 3,500 litres capacity.
• Not forward of the principal elevation fronting a highway.
• Maximum overall height of three metres.
• Maximum height 2.5 metres within two metres of a boundary.
• Not more than half the area of land around the "original house"* would be covered by additions or other buildings.
• In National Parks, the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites the maximum area to be covered by buildings, enclosures, containers and pools more than 20 metres from house to be limited to 10 square metres.
• Not at the side of properties on designated land*.
• Within the curtilage of listed buildings any container will require planning permission.

NOTE: Also from 1 October 2008, the permitted development regime will be extended to include liquid petroleum gas as well as oil storage.

*The term "original house" means the house as it was first built or as it stood on 1 July 1948 (if it was built before that date). Although you may not have built an extension to the house, a previous owner may have done so.

*Designated land includes national parks and the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites.