Most charger questions in Farnham are answered by looking at where the car stops. In Hale, Weybourne and Heath End, that is usually a drive beside a 20th-century house, and the charger goes on the nearest wall. In the Georgian centre, it may be a listed house with parking on the street, and the question becomes whether a charger can go there at all.
This guide is about position: which wall, whether a post, tethered or socketed, and how far the cable has to travel. For fuses, SSEN’s rules and grants, see our page on EV charger installation in Farnham.
Start where the car stops
A charging cable is a few metres long, so the charger belongs within easy reach of where the car’s charging port ends up when you park. For Waverley’s 40.4% of households in detached houses and 27.5% in semis (ONS Census 2021, TS044), that is usually a side wall, a garage front or a wall by the porch. Think about which way you reverse onto the drive in Badshot Lea or Rowledge, and where the car’s socket sits; a charger on the wrong side of a two-car drive means a cable across the bonnet of the other car.
Two cars change the picture again. Waverley’s privately kept plug-in vehicles rose from 4,375 to 5,670 in the year to June 2026, about 30% (our arithmetic), and in a Farnham household with two drivers the position has to suit both bays, even if only one car plugs in today.
Wall, garage or post
A wall-mounted unit is the usual answer. The garage is often the tidiest choice in Farnham’s larger houses: the charger can sit on the front of the garage or just inside it, close to the consumer unit if the garage has power. An outside wall is the next choice. The SmartBee-M we fit carries an IP65 weatherproof rating on its published specification, which is what an outdoor wall mount needs.
Where the bay has no wall near it, for example a parking area at the end of a long Wrecclesham garden, a charger can be mounted on a post set into the ground beside the space instead. Whether a post suits your bay, and how the cable reaches it, is something we work out at the survey.
Tethered or socketed
A tethered charger has its cable permanently attached: park, unhook the cable, plug in. A socketed one has a Type 2 socket and you use your own cable, kept in the car. The SmartBee-M is published in both forms. Tethered wins on day-to-day convenience, socketed on tidiness and on flexibility if you change cars, and in Farnham appearance can tip the choice. On a street-facing wall in the Town Centre or Great Austins conservation areas, a socketed unit without a coiled cable is quieter to look at; on a garage wall at the back of a Hale semi, convenience usually wins.
The cable run from the consumer unit
Every charger needs its own circuit from the consumer unit, with its own protective devices and the protection against a broken supply neutral that outdoor charging equipment requires. The SmartBee-M also has built-in AC 30 mA Type-A and DC 6 mA residual-current protection on its published specification. The route the cable takes from the consumer unit to the charger is priced by the metre and by the obstacle, and in Farnham’s bigger detached houses, from Hale to Rowledge, where the meter cupboard may be at the far end of the hall from the drive, it is the item that most often separates two quotes for the same charger.
A run through an integral garage is usually short. A run to a detached garage or a post across a gravel drive means a buried cable and more labour. Our EV charger installation cost guide shows what each part of the price covers.
Listed houses and conservation areas: checks with Waverley
Farnham’s town-centre conservation-area appraisal counted 388 listed buildings, and the town has six conservation areas: the Town Centre, Wrecclesham, Old Church Lane, Waverley Abbey, Great Austins and Shepherd and Flock. On a listed house, fixing a charger to the fabric of the building may need listed building consent. That is Waverley Borough Council’s decision, so ask before anyone drills, and if the answer is uncertain, look first at positions away from the historic fabric: a garage, an outbuilding or a post by the bay.
In a conservation area, keep the charger off a street-facing wall where you can, and check with Waverley if the only workable position faces the road. Where a Farnham home has no off-street parking, Surrey County Council says a home charger there may need planning permission and that residents should contact their district or borough council; it also says trailing a cable across the pavement is not allowed. We do not make planning or consent applications, and we will not pretend a check is unnecessary. Our earlier post on planning for panels and a battery in Farnham’s old streets sets out the designations in more detail, and our page on battery storage in Farnham covers where a battery can go in the same homes.
A Farnham siting checklist
- Where does the car’s charging port sit when you park, and could a second car share the bay?
- Is there a garage or outside wall within a cable’s reach, or does it need a post?
- Tethered or socketed: who drives, and how often does the car change?
- How far is the consumer unit, and what does the route cross?
- Is the house listed, or is the position on a street-facing wall in a conservation area? If so, speak to Waverley first.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, TS044 accommodation type (Waverley, E07000216), via Nomis; DfT and DVLA, VEH0142 licensed plug-in vehicles by local authority, private keepers, 2026 Q2 and 2025 Q2 (published 23 September 2026); IHBC South East and The Farnham Society (Farnham conservation areas and the town-centre appraisal’s listed-building count); Surrey County Council, Electric vehicles and our on-street chargepoint rollout (https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/sustainable-driving/electric-vehicles), reviewed 1 October 2026, read 19 October 2026; EnSmart Power, SmartBee-M 7 kW specification as listed by its UK distributor. The change in plug-in vehicles is our arithmetic.