Planning permission for shepherd huts for tourism

Whether a shepherd hut needs planning permission depends first on whether it is a caravan in law. The definition in section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 covers any structure designed or adapted for human habitation that is capable of being moved from one place to another, whether towed or carried on a vehicle or trailer. A hut on wheels that can be moved usually meets it. One craned onto a concrete base and plumbed in usually does not, and at that point it is a building. Shepherd huts planning permission questions follow from that single answer.

Caravan or building, and why it matters

If the hut is a caravan, the planning question is about the use of the land as a caravan site rather than about erecting a structure. That opens two routes that are closed to a building: the exemptions in Schedule 1 to the 1960 Act, and a site licence regime that sits alongside planning permission.

If the hut is a building, you need planning permission for the building operation itself, and in open countryside that is a much harder application.

The practical test is capability of movement, judged on the facts. Wheels that turn, a chassis, a towing eye and no permanent foundation point one way. A hut set on a plinth, connected to mains drainage by a solid pipe and enclosed by decking that would have to be dismantled points the other.

Twin-unit structures can still be caravans under section 13 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 if they are assembled on site from no more than two sections and fall within the statutory size limits, which have been amended over time. Check the current limits rather than a figure from an older article.

The 28 day right and what it does not give you

Two separate 28 day provisions are often confused.

Part 4 Class B of Schedule 2 to the GPDO 2015 permits the temporary use of land for most purposes for up to 28 days in a calendar year, with a shorter period for some uses, together with moveable structures for that purpose. Separately, Schedule 1 to the 1960 Act exempts certain caravan site uses from the site licensing requirement, including use for up to 28 days in a twelve month period with no more than three caravans present at a time.

Those rights are useful for testing a market. They are also narrower than people hope. The count is cumulative across the year, not per hut. The rights can be removed by condition on an earlier permission or by an Article 4 direction. And they do not authorise the permanent engineering works, access improvements, hardstanding and drainage that a real business needs.

The 28 day rules for farm caravans and campsites set out the detail. Treat the right as a trial, not a business model.

Site licensing alongside planning permission

Where planning permission for a caravan site is granted, a site licence from the local authority normally follows, and the authority cannot refuse a licence to someone who holds planning permission for the use. The licence sets the operating conditions.

Licence conditions typically deal with spacing between units, fire points, water supply, waste, roads and lighting, and authorities have regard to the published model standards for caravan sites in England. Those standards are guidance rather than law, but they are what the licensing officer works from.

Spacing is the one that changes layouts. A design drawn purely for visual effect, with huts clustered picturesquely, can fail the licensing separation distances, and moving them afterwards means revisiting the landscape assessment. Get the licensing officer's view before the application is drawn.

Landscape and visual effects in open countryside

Shepherd huts are small. Their access tracks, parking, hot tubs, decking, bin stores, lighting and site offices are not, and that is what the landscape officer assesses.

In a National Landscape or a National Park the bar is higher again, and a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment will usually be required for anything beyond a handful of units. Even outside a designation, expect the officer to look at views from public rights of way and from the nearest lane.

Hot tubs deserve a line of their own. They generate noise late at night in quiet rural areas, and they are the most common source of complaint once a site is operating. Address them in the application rather than adding them later.

Foul drainage, water and waste

A hut without drainage is a hut with a chemical toilet and a disposal problem. Say how it will be handled.

Where a connection to a public sewer is not available, the options are a package treatment plant or composting toilets, and the first brings the general binding rules for small sewage discharges into play. A Foul Sewage Assessment setting out the flow, the treatment method and the discharge point is proportionate for anything beyond two or three units.

Water supply, refuse storage and collection arrangements all need a line each. Councils ask, and an application that has already answered gets through consultation faster.

Access, parking and visitor movements

Rural lanes are the practical constraint. Visibility at the access, passing places, the width of the entrance and the ability of a car with a roof box to turn within the site are what the highway authority looks at.

Trip generation from a small site is low, but arrival and departure are concentrated on Friday afternoons and Monday mornings. Say so, and set out the changeover arrangements.

Occupancy conditions and seasonal restrictions

Expect conditions, and expect them to matter commercially.

1. Holiday occupancy only, preventing use as a sole or main residence.
2. A maximum continuous period of occupation by any one party, often with a register to be kept and made available to the council.
3. A limit on the number of units and their approved positions.
4. In some cases a seasonal restriction closing the site over winter months, usually where landscape screening is weakest when leaves are off.
5. Removal of permitted development rights for further structures.

The occupancy register condition is worth negotiating. A requirement to keep a register is reasonable. A requirement to submit it monthly is administrative overhead with little planning purpose, and officers will often agree to the lighter version if you ask.

Set the case out properly in the Planning Statement, including how the proposal supports rural tourism and farm diversification, which is the policy hook that most of these applications turn on.

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.