The 28 day camping allowance in practice
Class B of Part 4 permits temporary use of land for 28 days a year. The allowance belongs to the land, not to the operator, and the day count is yours to prove.
The 28 day camping rule is not a camping rule at all. It is Class B of Part 4 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015, which grants planning permission for the temporary use of land for any purpose for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year, together with any moveable structure needed for that use. Camping happens to be the use most people want it for. The allowance belongs to the land rather than to you, it excludes several things people assume are covered, and the day count is yours to prove if the council asks.
What the temporary use right actually gives you
Class B permits a change of use, not building work. A field can become a campsite for a fortnight in August and revert to grazing afterwards without any application. Tents, a marquee, portable toilets and a mobile catering unit are moveable structures provided for the purposes of the permitted use, so they come within the right and must go when the use ends.
Within the 28 days, no more than 14 may be used for holding a market or for motor car and motorcycle racing. That sub-limit is easy to trip over on a diversified holding that runs both a camping weekend and a farmers market from the same field.
One point decides more disputes than any other. The allowance attaches to the planning unit. If one organiser uses your field for 20 days and a second organiser uses it for 12, the land has been used for 32 days and the right is exhausted. Splitting a field into notional halves to claim 56 days does not work where the land is occupied and managed as a single unit, and an inspector will look at how the land is actually occupied and managed rather than at lines on a plan.
Counting the days, and who carries the record
A day on which the land is used for the permitted purpose counts, and that includes days spent setting up and striking down, because the land is being used for the purpose of the camping operation on those days. Two tents pitched on the Friday afternoon and gone by Sunday lunchtime is three days, not one weekend.
The calendar year resets on 1 January, which is why some operators run a late December event and a New Year event back to back.
If the council serves an enforcement notice, an appeal on the ground that there has been no breach of planning control puts the burden on you. So keep a log. Dated entries, booking system exports, pitch numbers, photographs with metadata, and the invoices for the toilet hire all help. A landowner who can produce a spreadsheet covering three seasons is in a different position from one relying on memory, and the difference usually shows in whether the notice is pursued at all.
What the right does not cover
Class B carries exclusions, and they catch real proposals:
- Land that is a building, or is within the curtilage of a building, so a paddock inside the curtilage of the farmhouse is outside the right
- Use of the land as a caravan site
- Use for motor sports, clay pigeon shooting or war games on or within a site of special scientific interest
- The display of an advertisement, so the roadside sign advertising the campsite needs its own consent
Nothing in Class B permits operational development. A new gravelled access, a permanent hardstanding, a toilet block, a hedge removed to create visibility splays, or a septic tank installation all need permission or a separate consent in their own right. The commonest sequence that ends in enforcement is a lawful 28 day use accompanied by unlawful groundworks.
Caravans, motorhomes and the site licence overlap
Because Class B excludes caravan sites, touring caravans and motorhomes sit under a different route. Class A of Part 5 of Schedule 2 grants permission for the use of land as a caravan site where the use is one of those exempted by Schedule 1 to the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. Those exemptions include limited numbers of caravans for limited periods, sites of five acres or more with tight numerical caps, and sites certificated by an exempted organisation.
The two regimes answer different questions. The 1960 Act deals with whether you need a site licence from the council. The Order deals with whether you need planning permission. A use can be exempt from licensing and still be a breach of planning control, or the reverse, so check both. Tents are not caravans, and a separate licensing power for camping sites sits in the Public Health Act 1936, which some authorities still use.
Where a longer allowance is available for campsites, read the current consolidated text rather than any summary, and see the temporary use allowance for camping and caravan sites for how the counting discipline works across a longer period. The number of days has been varied before, and it is the part of this right most likely to have changed since you last looked.
Access, drainage and welfare on a temporary site
Portable welfare units are the practical answer, and their servicing is the part people underestimate. Chemical toilet waste is controlled waste, so it needs a licensed carrier and a consignment trail. Grey water from a washing-up point cannot simply soak away next to a watercourse.
Water supply matters too. Supplying water to paying guests from a borehole or spring brings the private water supply regulations into play, which means sampling and risk assessment through the council's environmental health team rather than the planning department.
Access is where the highway authority becomes interested. A field gate designed for a tractor twice a week behaves differently with 30 cars arriving on a Friday evening, and visibility from an agricultural access onto a 60 mph road is rarely adequate for that. Widening the access is operational development. Parking cars on the verge while they wait is an obstruction of the highway.
Going for a permanent permission instead
And if the business works, apply. A permanent or seasonal permission removes the day counting, lets you build the access and the toilet block properly, and makes the enterprise financeable and saleable. Expect conditions on the number of pitches, the months of operation, a restriction to touring units with no statics, occupancy limited to holiday use, and a landscaping scheme.
The evidence pack for a small countryside campsite usually needs a Planning Statement setting the proposal against the local plan's rural economy and tourism policies, a landscape appraisal where the site is prominent, a drainage and foul water strategy, and a transport note dealing with the access. Sites in a National Landscape or near a protected habitat need more. The same logic applies to other diversification, and the tests overlap with those for farm workshops and offices and for livery yards moving from private to commercial use.
How enforcement usually starts
Almost always with a neighbour. Headlights across a bedroom window at midnight, or a queue on a single track lane, produces a complaint, and the case officer then asks for the day count. A temporary stop notice can shut an operation down quickly, and enforcement time limits were extended by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, so do not rely on a short immunity period. Check the current position before you assume anything about immunity.
A Lawful Development Certificate under section 191 or 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is the only formal way to confirm that a use is lawful. This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a rural site is likely to need.
Frequently asked questions
Do set-up and take-down days count towards the 28 days?
Yes. A day on which the land is being used for the purpose counts, and putting up or striking down a camping operation is use of the land for that purpose. A pitch occupied from Friday afternoon to Sunday lunchtime uses three days of the allowance. Keep a dated log, because proving the count falls to you.
Can two organisers each use my field for 28 days?
No. The allowance attaches to the planning unit, not to the operator. Twenty days of use by one organiser and twelve by another means the land has been used for thirty two days and the right is exhausted. Dividing a field into notional halves does not create a second allowance where the land is occupied and managed as one unit.
Are touring caravans and motorhomes covered by the 28 day right?
Not by Class B of Part 4, which excludes use of land as a caravan site. Caravan use relies on Class A of Part 5, which grants permission where the use is one exempted by Schedule 1 to the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. Site licensing is a separate question decided by the council.
Can I build toilets and a gravel access under the 28 day rule?
No. Class B permits a temporary change of use and moveable structures only. A permanent hardstanding, a widened access, a toilet block or a septic tank are operational development needing their own permission. A lawful temporary use accompanied by unlawful groundworks is the commonest route into enforcement on these sites.
Does the 28 day count reset in the summer or on 1 January?
The limit is expressed as days in total in any calendar year, so it resets on 1 January. That allows a late December event and a New Year event in consecutive calendar years. It also means an operator who has used the allowance by July has no temporary right left for the August bank holiday.
How do I confirm a temporary use is lawful?
Apply for a lawful development certificate under section 191 or 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. A certificate is the only formal confirmation, and an informal view from a planning officer is not binding. Bring the day log, booking records and photographs, because the evidence carries the application.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.