Documents for an equestrian cross-country course

A cross-country course on farmland needs planning permission twice over: once for the change of use of the land from agriculture to equestrian recreation, and once for the engineering operations that build the fences, banks, ditches and water jumps. Equestrian cross country planning applications therefore carry a document list driven by land use, earthworks and horsebox traffic rather than by anything to do with buildings. The core pack is a planning statement, a landscape assessment, an ecological appraisal, a transport and parking note and a drainage and erosion statement, with the rest determined by the site's constraints.

Whether the change of use needs permission

Grazing horses on agricultural land can be agriculture within the meaning of section 336 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, because the use of land as grazing land is included. Keeping and exercising horses for recreation or commercial riding is not, and the courts have drawn that line consistently.

A cross-country course is plainly recreational. Horses are ridden over a defined route with constructed obstacles, riders arrive by horsebox, and the land is managed for the activity. That is a material change of use of the land under section 55, and permission is required.

Two qualifications matter.

The 28-day rule in Part 4 Class B of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits the temporary use of land for most purposes for up to 28 days in a calendar year, with a lower limit for certain uses. It does not authorise building or engineering operations, so a course with permanent fences cannot shelter under it. A truly temporary arrangement with portable show jumps on grazing land for a handful of days each year is a different proposition from a built course.

And a lawful development certificate under section 191 or 192 of the 1990 Act is the only formal way to confirm the position where a private course has been used informally for years.

Engineering works, jumps and ground reprofiling

The construction side is where applications are often under-described. Section 55 catches engineering operations in, on, over or under land, and course building is engineering work.

List it all on the application, with a schedule and drawings:

• fences, hedges, log piles, rails and brush obstacles, with heights and construction
• banks, ditches and steps formed by cut and fill, with existing and proposed levels
• water jumps and ponds, with their construction, lining and water source
• hardcore tracks, crossings and all-weather take-off and landing areas
• culverts or bridges over watercourses
• any lighting, fencing or storage structures

Levels drawings matter more than anything else here. A course that moves material around the site needs a cut and fill balance, a plan showing where spoil goes, and an explanation of why the reprofiling is needed. Importing material changes the picture again, because imported soil may be a waste matter and may need an environmental permit or an exemption.

Crossings of a watercourse need separate consent. Works in or near an ordinary watercourse need land drainage consent from the lead local flood authority under the Land Drainage Act 1991, and works affecting a main river need a permit from the Environment Agency. Neither is granted by the planning permission.

Horsebox parking, access and visibility

The highway authority will look at one thing above all: whether horseboxes can turn into and out of the site safely.

The evidence usually needed is a visibility splay drawing at the access, measured against the recorded speed of traffic rather than the speed limit, a swept path analysis for the largest vehicle expected, and a parking and turning layout showing that vehicles enter and leave in forward gear. On a narrow lane, passing places and their spacing come into it.

Trip generation is the other half. A course used by a small number of riders by arrangement generates very little traffic. A course hosting hunter trials or unaffiliated events generates a lot of it on a few days. Present both scenarios, because a permission based on everyday use and later used for events will attract complaints and possibly enforcement. A transport statement proportionate to the scale is normally enough for a private or small commercial course.

Surfacing of the parking area needs thought. A grass field used in winter becomes rutted and the usual fix is a reinforced grass system or a hardcore area, which is itself development and should be in the application.

Landscape effects of fences and ground works

Cross-country fences are large, numerous and unlike anything else in a field. In open countryside they read as structures, and in a National Landscape or National Park they will be assessed carefully.

A landscape case is made with a plan of the course route, elevations or photographs of representative obstacles, and an assessment of visibility from public viewpoints and rights of way. Where the site sits in a designated landscape or on a prominent slope, a landscape and visual impact assessment following the recognised guidance is proportionate. Councils usually expect a suitably qualified author for that work, and professional review is strongly advised.

Mitigation that tends to work: keeping obstacles below hedge height where possible, using unpainted natural timber, avoiding white rails and advertising panels, setting the course back from ridgelines, and planting to break up long views of the parking area. What does not work is a planting scheme with no maintenance commitment.

Ecology, grassland loss and watercourse crossings

Permanent pasture is not automatically low value. Species-rich semi-natural grassland is scarce and the statutory biodiversity metric treats it as high distinctiveness, so a course cut across it can create a substantial habitat loss.

Start with a preliminary ecological appraisal and a botanical survey in the right season, which is broadly April to September. Hedgerow removal for obstacles or access brings the Hedgerows Regulations into play alongside the metric. Watercourse margins may support water vole between April and September, and ditch crossings often need an otter assessment.

Biodiversity net gain applies to most development requiring permission, so the earthworks and the loss of grassland both feed the metric and a biodiversity gain plan will usually be needed before work starts. Where the course can be routed around the better grassland, do that first and argue about units afterwards. The broader framing of a scheme that changes land use across a holding is set out in reports for a rewilding or land use change scheme.

Drainage, erosion and ground conditions

Horses concentrate wear. Take-off and landing areas, gateways and the approaches to water jumps erode quickly, and eroded ground sheds silt into ditches and watercourses.

A short drainage and erosion statement should cover the soil type and infiltration, the run-off route from the course and the parking area, the measures controlling silt, the arrangement of any water jump including how it is filled and whether it connects to a watercourse, and the ground maintenance regime. Where the site is in a critical drainage area or near a designated site, the standard rises.

Compaction is the agricultural side of the same question. If part of the land is best and most versatile, the council may want an agricultural land classification view on whether the works take it out of production permanently or temporarily.

Events, hours and intensity conditions

Expect conditions, and expect them to be the thing you negotiate hardest.

The usual set covers the number of events in a calendar year, the hours of use, whether a public address system is permitted, whether temporary structures may be brought on, the parking areas as shown on the approved plan, no external lighting without further approval, and sometimes a cap on the number of horses on site at one time.

Three practical points. Ask for the event allowance you actually need, because varying it later needs a section 73 application. Get the hours drafted by reference to daylight where possible, since a fixed finish time in June is unnecessarily tight. And check whether a condition restricts use to private use only, because that wording prevents commercial hire and is easy to miss.

A proportionate document list

For a private course on a single holding with no designations, the pack is short: a planning statement covering the change of use and the countryside policy, a site and course plan, levels drawings with a cut and fill note, an ecology appraisal, an access and parking drawing, and a drainage and erosion statement.

Add to it only where a constraint requires it. A designated landscape adds a visual impact assessment. A main river or ordinary watercourse adds flood risk and separate consents. Best and most versatile land adds the agricultural land classification. Commercial events add a fuller transport assessment and a noise note. A listed building or scheduled monument on the holding adds a heritage assessment and, potentially, archaeological evaluation where the earthworks are substantial.

See which reports an equestrian scheme needs by browsing the report categories and starting a draft.

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.