Glamping and camping: what needs planning permission

Glamping planning permission is needed for almost anything that stays put. Pitching tents for a few weeks a year can fall within the temporary use rights in Part 4 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015. Putting up a safari tent on a timber deck, running water and electricity to it and taking bookings all year does not, because the deck is operational development and the use of the land has changed materially under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Two regimes run in parallel and people conflate them constantly. Planning permission is one. A caravan site licence under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 is the other. Satisfying one says nothing about the other.

Where the temporary use rights end

Class B of Part 4 allows land to be used temporarily for any purpose for a limited number of days in a calendar year, with a shorter limit for certain uses including markets and motor sport. The headline number has moved about: temporary increases applied during 2021 and 2022, and further change has been consulted on since. Read the current text of Part 4 on the legislation service rather than a summary, because the figure is the whole point of the right.

Three limits catch people out. The days are cumulative across the calendar year and across all temporary uses of that land. Any building or structure used in connection with the temporary use is only permitted to the extent Part 4 allows, which is far less than most operators assume. And the right does not apply to land that is a building or, in some cases, within the curtilage of one.

The detail of counting days on a farm site is covered in farm caravan and campsite 28 day rules, and you should read it before committing to a season.

Where the operation runs beyond the permitted days, or where pitches stand marked out with hardstanding and services through the winter, the use is a material change of use of agricultural land and needs planning permission. The only formal way to confirm that an existing operation is lawful is a lawful development certificate under section 191 or 192 of the 1990 Act.

Structures that become operational development

The question is whether a thing is a building. The long-standing judicial test looks at size, degree of permanence and degree of physical attachment to the ground. A structure that scores on all three is a building, and erecting it is development regardless of how the land is used.

Applying that to the usual glamping stock:

• A touring caravan or a shepherd's hut on wheels, movable and not connected to fixed services, is usually a caravan rather than a building. The statutory definition in the 1960 Act turns on being designed or adapted for human habitation and capable of being moved.
• A shepherd's hut set on a concrete plinth with mains water, foul drainage and a fixed veranda has crossed into being a building on most readings.
• Safari tents, geodesic domes and pods sold as demountable almost always sit on a timber or concrete base. The base is operational development even if the tent is not.
• Ancillary structures make the case worse: shower blocks, a reception cabin, hot tub decks, bin stores, a bund for an oil tank, and the access track itself.

Twin unit caravans have to stay within the dimension limits in section 13 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968, as amended, currently 20 metres long, 6.8 metres wide and 3.05 metres internal height. Exceed any one of them and the unit is not a caravan, which changes both the planning analysis and the licensing position.

Caravan site licensing as a separate regime

A site licence is issued by the district or unitary council under the 1960 Act, and it cannot be issued unless planning permission for use as a caravan site is already in place. That sequence is fixed: permission first, licence second.

Schedule 1 to the 1960 Act sets out exemptions from the licence requirement. They include use incidental to a dwellinghouse within its curtilage, short use by a single caravan, limited use on agricultural holdings of five acres or more, and sites run by organisations holding an exemption certificate. The day limits and conditions in each paragraph are specific and differ from the planning day limits, so read Schedule 1 itself.

The trap is treating a licence exemption as planning cover. It is not. A holding that qualifies for a Schedule 1 exemption still needs planning permission if the use of the land has materially changed.

Licence conditions are then drawn from the model standards for caravan sites, which deal with spacing between units, fire points, roads, hardstandings and service provision. Those standards shape the layout, so read them before the site plan is drawn rather than after permission.

Landscape and visual considerations

Glamping sites tend to be proposed in exactly the places where landscape policy is strongest: valley sides, coastal fringes, National Landscapes, National Parks and Green Belt. In a National Landscape or National Park, great weight applies to conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty, and major development faces a further test.

The design response is mostly about siting and colour. Units tucked below a ridge line, dark recessive finishes, no white render, existing hedgerows reinforced rather than replaced, and no lighting on poles. Dark skies matter in upland and coastal areas, and a lighting scheme limited to low-level bollards with warm colour temperature and a curfew is easier to defend than a promise of discretion.

A proportionate Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment with photographs from public viewpoints is usually enough for a small site. Reserve a full assessment to the landscape institute guidelines for schemes in designated landscapes or above about 20 units.

Access, parking and foul drainage

Highway objections sink more small tourism schemes than landscape ones. A single farm access with poor visibility, serving an operation that generates arrivals on Friday afternoons and departures on Sunday mornings, will draw a request for visibility splays and often for passing bays on a single track lane.

Parking should be one space per unit plus provision for staff and turning, laid in permeable bound gravel rather than tarmac. Show a refuse vehicle swept path or explain the bin collection arrangement at the road.

Foul drainage is the quiet cost. Package treatment plants have to meet the general binding rules for small sewage discharges or hold a permit from the Environment Agency, and percolation testing to establish whether a drainage field works is a ground investigation, not an assumption. Where the site sits in a groundwater source protection zone or a nutrient neutrality catchment, get advice before you budget. A Foul Sewage Assessment sets out the route, the capacity and the consent position.

Seasonal conditions and occupancy control

Expect conditions rather than an unrestricted permission. The common set is a seasonal restriction, often 1 March to 31 October, an occupancy condition limiting use to holiday purposes and preventing any unit becoming a sole or main residence, a register of occupiers to be kept and made available to the council, a cap on the number and type of units, an approved siting plan, and landscaping with a replacement clause.

Seasonal conditions are negotiable where the business case is good and winter landscape impact is no greater. Occupancy conditions rarely are, because they are what keeps the use in the tourism policy box rather than the housing one. If the operation is really residential, it is a different application and probably a sui generis or C3 argument.

What to apply for

For a permanent site of pods, huts or safari tents, apply for full planning permission for change of use of land with associated structures, works and access. Describe the development precisely, including the maximum number of units, because a vague description invites a condition tighter than you wanted.

The pack for a small rural site usually runs to a Planning Statement, a Design and Access Statement where the site is in a designated area, landscape material, an ecology appraisal with the biodiversity metric, a drainage and foul sewage note, a transport statement or highways note, and a management plan covering hours, bookings and site rules.

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, and for specialist technical reports such as ecology and drainage, qualified professional input may be required.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a glamping or camping proposal on your land is likely to need.