If you live in a conservation area, national park, listed building or other restricted location you have to apply for planning permission to put up a dish. The reality is it costs you around £110 to find out if you are able to - and in many places you are not.

The rules are governed by the 1996 Town and County (General Permitted Development) Order which gives general permissions and rules for satellite dishes. This looks like it might be replaced after a paper was issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which puts a number of choices out to consultation from maintaining the status quo to scrapping virtually all the rules. The paper goes on to says that the current rules are "unnecessarily restrictive".

One of the reasons to relax the rules is to ensure the switch off of analogue can happen sooner. In some areas a satellite dish is the only cost effective solution for both the home-owner and the broadcasters.