Counting the 28 days of temporary use under Part 4 Class B

The 28 day rule for temporary use of land is counted per calendar year, cumulatively across every purpose the land is used for, and it covers the use alone. Part 4 Class B of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits the use of any land for any purpose for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year, together with any moveable structure provided for that use. Almost every dispute about it comes down to arithmetic or to something that was built rather than used.

What the right permits

Two things. A temporary use of land, and moveable structures for the purposes of that use.

The use can be almost anything: a car boot sale, a wedding marquee, a festival, a paintball site, a clay pigeon shoot, a seasonal attraction, storage, a film set. The order does not list permitted purposes, which is what makes the right so useful.

The structures have to be moveable. A marquee, a portable toilet block, a trailer, a demountable stage and temporary fencing are all within the right. A timber building on a concrete base is not, whatever the intention to remove it later.

The right does not apply to land within the curtilage of a building. That limit catches more people than any other, because the obvious place to run an event is the yard next to the barn, and the yard is usually curtilage. Where the use is in a field beyond the curtilage, the right applies to that field.

Counting the days

The allowance is 28 days in total in a calendar year, for all temporary uses of that land taken together. Not 28 days per use, and not a rolling twelve months.

Three counting points matter.

1. A day on which the land is used for the temporary purpose counts, whether that use lasts an hour or sixteen hours.
2. Set-up and take-down count where the land is being used for the purpose of the temporary use on those days. Erecting a marquee on Thursday for a Saturday event uses three days, not one.
3. Different uses draw from the same 28 days. A spring car boot sale, a summer festival and an autumn attraction on the same field share the allowance.

The reduced sub-allowance is the part people miss. Of the 28 days, not more than 14 may be used for the holding of a market or for motor car and motorcycle racing. So a field hosting a monthly market has 14 market days available and can use the remaining days for other purposes.

The third row is the one that catches seasonal operators. Twenty four trading days looks comfortable until the build and strip are added, at which point the season is outside the right and needs permission.

What the right does not cover

Engineering and building operations are excluded entirely. Class B permits a use, so anything that amounts to development other than the use needs its own permission.

That means no stone or grid parking surface, no regraded access, no culverted ditch crossing, no permanent hardstanding for a catering unit, no plumbed drainage, no new or widened field entrance and no permanent fencing beyond what other rights allow. Those are the items that turn a lawful temporary use into an enforcement case, because they remain on the ground after the 28 days expire.

Advertisement consent is separate again. Signage for the event is controlled by the advertisement regulations rather than by Class B, and large directional signs on the verge are a frequent source of complaint.

There are also exclusions on certain land. The right is restricted on sites of special scientific interest for particular uses, including motor sport, markets and clay pigeon shooting, and the current text should be read rather than assumed, since Part 4 has been amended more than once and was temporarily extended in the past.

Where the planning unit matters

The allowance attaches to the land, which raises the question of what "the land" is. Authorities generally look at the planning unit, so splitting one field into two notional halves to claim 56 days between them is unlikely to work where the halves function as one operation with one access and one ticket.

Equally, physically separate parcels in separate use each carry their own allowance. The analysis is the same one applied to outbuildings and separate uses within a residential curtilage, set out in garden offices and the separate planning unit problem, and the curtilage question itself is worked through in the 50 per cent curtilage rule for garden outbuildings.

Where a use recurs year after year on the same land for the same purpose at a similar intensity, there is a further argument that the character of the use of the land has changed permanently. That is a question of fact and degree, and it is how a long-running annual event can end up needing permission even while staying inside 28 days each year.

Keeping records that prove compliance

The burden of showing that works or uses are lawful sits with the person asserting it, and in practice an enforcement officer will ask for evidence. Keep it as you go.

A dated log of every day the land was used, naming the purpose, is the core document. Add dated photographs at set-up and after clearance, booking records or ticket sales showing the trading days, and invoices for marquee or toilet hire with delivery and collection dates. Where a market is involved, record market days separately so the 14 day sub-allowance is visible.

A log written at the time is persuasive. One reconstructed from memory after a complaint is not.

When to stop relying on the right

Three triggers mean it is time to apply for permission. The season exceeds 28 days once build and strip are counted. The operation needs any permanent infrastructure, which almost all recurring events do. Or the use has become an established annual fixture at a scale that has changed the character of the land.

Where any of those applies, a planning application for the use and the infrastructure together is the stable position, and conditions on days, hours and numbers are usually negotiable. Set the case out in a Planning Statement with the trading pattern and the visitor numbers you actually need.

Where the position is arguable rather than clear, a lawful development certificate for proposed use or development is the formal route to an answer before money is spent. Browse the report types to see what an application for a temporary or seasonal use usually involves.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. A lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works or uses are lawful. 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.