Rural and Agricultural – Page 2

Rural broadband and telecoms masts under Part 16

Part 16 gives code operators permitted development rights, so the planning process for most rural masts is a siting and appearance test. Need, competition and health are outside it.

Barn owl mitigation in a rural building conversion

A nesting barn owl stops a barn conversion until the young fledge. The survey can be done at any time of year, and the mitigation is usually a partition and a hatch, provided you find out early enough.

Farm diversification and the fallback position argument

A fallback position compares your proposal with what could lawfully happen anyway. Here is how the real prospect test works on a farm holding, what evidence carries it, and where the argument collapses.

Farm pond and reservoir creation: planning and waste rules

Digging is an engineering operation, and where the arisings end up can turn a simple pond into a waste operation. Here is how the planning, waste and watercourse consents fit together.

Redundant farm buildings and the loss of employment test

Local plan rural policy usually prefers an employment use over housing, and asks you to prove the building has no economic future. Here is what that evidence looks like and where applications fall over.

Agricultural ties secured by obligation, not condition

Removing an occupancy condition under section 73 does nothing to a section 106 tie. Here is how the two differ and how release under section 106A works.

Rural and Agricultural9 min read

Farm campsites beyond the 28 day allowance

Part 4 lets you run a campsite for a limited number of days a year. Going beyond it means a full application, plus caravan site licensing where caravans are involved.

Grain stores and the Part 6 siting and design notification

Class A of Part 6 covers agricultural buildings on units of 5 hectares or more, but only after a notification of siting, design and external appearance is determined.

Mud on the road: construction conditions on farm sites

Depositing mud on a carriageway is an offence under the Highways Act 1980, and most rural permissions add a wheel washing condition on top. Here is what the highway authority expects.

Vineyard and cider buildings: agriculture or processing

Fruit growing is agriculture. Making wine or cider from it may not be. The distinction decides whether a building can go ahead on a prior approval notification or needs full planning permission.

Diverting a public footpath through a working farmyard

A farmyard diversion is applied for under section 119 of the Highways Act 1980 and turns on whether the replacement route is substantially less convenient. Here is how to build the case and the evidence pack.

Livestock building separation distances and odour

Separation distances for livestock buildings come from local plans and practice, not from statute. Where the distance is not met, dispersion modelling against published odour benchmarks takes over.

Ordinary watercourse consent for farm ditches and outfalls

Culverting a ditch, installing an outfall or building a weir on an ordinary watercourse needs consent under section 23 of the Land Drainage Act 1991. Who grants it, what the application contains and how it sits alongside planning permission.

Soil resource plans and topsoil handling on rural sites

A soil resource plan sets out how soil will be stripped, stored and reinstated without destroying its structure. Horizon separation, the moisture working window, stockpile limits and the verification record a condition discharge relies on.

Holiday letting a converted barn and the use class question

There is no use class for holiday accommodation, and a Class Q conversion is tied to a dwellinghouse in Class C3. How the material change of use question is judged, what occupancy conditions require and how to vary one.

Farm anaerobic digestion: feedstock and traffic evidence

The feedstock table decides how a farm anaerobic digestion application is characterised, and the lane network decides whether it is acceptable. Both need real evidence.

Rural and Agricultural6 min read

Woodland creation and the forestry EIA regulations

Afforestation falls outside the planning system and inside a separate consent regime. Here are the thresholds, the opinion process and the evidence that supports it.

Ammonia screening for poultry and livestock units

Distance to a designated site decides whether an intensive livestock scheme needs ammonia modelling. Here is how screening, in-combination effects and mitigation are assessed.

Farm reservoirs and the Reservoirs Act threshold

The volume above natural ground level decides whether a farm reservoir carries registration and panel engineer duties for life. How planning, abstraction and waste rules interact with it.

Manege floodlighting in open countryside

The arena and its lighting are judged differently. How obtrusive light zones, column design, curfew conditions and bat commuting routes decide a manege floodlighting application.

Part 6 Class B: farm buildings on units under 5ha

Class B of Part 6 covers agricultural units of less than 5 hectares, and it does not permit a new building. What it does allow, the size and proximity limits, and how prior notification works.

Structural evidence for a Class Q barn conversion

Class Q prior approval allows conversion, not rebuilding. Here is what a structural appraisal has to establish about foundations, frame and envelope, and the evidence officers expect to see with it.

A wedding barn on a working farm

Wedding barn applications are rarely refused on principle. They are refused on midnight noise, a septic tank sized for a farmhouse and a field that turns to mud in October.