That does not answer the question. It is NOT a regulation and so called fixed loads come fitted with 13a plugs. Why? A ring final can carry 7kW after all.
Goto
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Charts/VoltageDrop.html and enter 7kW as the load over 1 metre ... The result is that 6 mm² of copper is required to carry the current. Put that load at the midpoint of a ring final. With equal current in each leg then each leg will require 3 mm² of copper which is more than 2.5 mm²
Yes, if you use TLC's default Method 100 installation (which more-or-less corresponds to the 20A minimum CCC allowed in a ring final). If you changed it to Method C, it would say 4mm², half of which is 2mm².
However, the calculator is misleading. 7kW is about 30.4A at 230V, so if it's all at the middle of the ring, the current in each arm will be about 15.2A - which, theoretically (although not allowed) would be OK with 1.5mm ² cable, let alone the 3mm² you suggest. There is absolutely no problem with a 2.5mm² ring circuit if the load is all at the middle, or reasonably evenly distributed around the ring. The problem arise with other load distributions ....
If the load is close to the ends of a ring then the current in the shorter leg will be more than half the current.
As I recently wrote, that's the problem. 7kW (30.4A at 230V) connected, say, 10% of the way along ring would result in about 27.3A in one arm of the ring and 3.1A along the other arm - the former being much too much if the cable had the minimum permitted CCC (for a ring final) of 20A.
Having said all that, if (as will commonly be the case) the ring cables installation is Method C (27A CCC for 2.5mm²), it is all-but impossible to overload the cable, even if the entire 32A load is applied close to one end - to make overload
actually impossible, all one has to do is ensure that there are no sockets within the first (or last) ~10% of the ring run. In fact, just one double socket, and even if it were loaded to 26A, close to one end would not be enough to enable an overload to arise.
Kind Regards, John