Temporary campsites under Part 4 Class BB

Class BB of Part 4 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 allows land to be used as a recreational campsite for a limited number of days each calendar year, subject to prior approval from the local planning authority. Temporary campsite permitted development is therefore a two step process: the right exists, and the council still gets to look at siting, access, flooding and the effect on the area before the first tent goes up.

For a farm looking at diversification, it is a way to test demand before committing to a full application. It is not a shortcut to a permanent site, and authorities treat repeated use of the right on the same field as a signal to look harder.

What the class permits

The right covers the use of land for a recreational campsite for a capped number of days in a calendar year, together with moveable structures needed for that use. The cap on days and the cap on pitches are both set out in the class, along with a list of land that is excluded from the right.

Three points need checking against the current text of the Order rather than any summary, because the class has been amended since it was introduced:

1. The number of days permitted in a calendar year and how those days are counted.
2. How the right interacts with the separate temporary use right in Class B of the same Part, which covers other temporary uses.
3. The maximum number of pitches and what counts as a pitch.

Read the class itself. It is short, and getting the day count wrong is the single most common route to an enforcement problem on these sites.

Land that is excluded

The right does not apply everywhere. The Order lists categories of land where the class cannot be used, which include land with particular environmental or heritage designations and land subject to safety-related constraints.

Check the site against the designation datasets before relying on the class. A field that touches a Site of Special Scientific Interest, sits within the curtilage of a listed building, or falls inside a safeguarded area may be outside the right entirely, and using it anyway is a breach rather than a technicality.

Where the land is in a designated landscape, check whether the class applies at all in that setting, and expect the authority to take a closer look at the prior approval if it does.

Prior approval and what the council assesses

Prior approval is a formal application with a fee, a plan and a description. The authority considers the matters the class specifies, which cover siting and, in broad terms, transport and highways, the risk of flooding and the effect on the surrounding area.

What that means in practice:

• Access. A field gate onto a national speed limit road with no visibility splay is the most common reason for refusal. The authority will look at visibility in both directions, the geometry of the entrance, whether two vehicles can pass, and whether cars will queue on the carriageway. A Transport Statement is rarely required at this scale, though a visibility drawing usually is.
• Flooding. A riverside meadow is an attractive campsite and a poor one. Where the land sits in Flood Zone 2 or 3, expect questions about warning and evacuation, and be ready to show that the camping season avoids the highest risk period or that a flood plan exists.
• Siting. Distance from dwellings, screening, the position of vehicles and the visual effect of tents and toilets on a skyline.

Submit more than the minimum. A short covering statement with a site plan showing pitch positions, parking, the toilet block, the water point and the access arrangement converts a sceptical officer faster than any amount of policy argument.

Neighbours are consulted on prior approval applications and their concerns are predictable: noise late at night, headlights sweeping a bedroom window, dogs, and cars parked on the lane. Answering those in the covering statement, with a site management approach covering quiet hours, a no-arrivals-after-dark rule and parking on the pitch, removes most of the objection before it is written.

Amenity is also where the difference between a field with tents and a commercial operation becomes visible. Bell tents on wooden platforms, a shower block and lighting look permanent, and an officer may reasonably ask whether the use is temporary at all or whether a permanent structure is being installed under cover of the class. Keep everything moveable and keep the photographic record, dated, of the land before and after each season.

Licensing alongside planning

Planning permission and site licensing are separate regimes, and the class deals only with planning.

Campsites can be subject to licensing controls administered by the council, and the position differs for tents, caravans and motorhomes, with exemptions for certain organisations and for short-duration use. Speak to the licensing team at the same time as the planning team. Food, alcohol and entertainment each bring their own licensing if they are part of the offer.

Fire safety matters too. Spacing between units, access for an appliance, and extinguisher provision are the basics, and the local fire and rescue service will give guidance on a small site without charge.

Water, waste and drainage

A campsite generates foul waste, greywater and refuse, and the prior approval will not deal with any of it in detail. Sort it out anyway.

Chemical toilets need a disposal point connected to foul drainage or emptied under a contract. Where the site uses a septic tank or package treatment plant, the discharge is subject to the general binding rules or a permit depending on volume and location, and a seasonal peak load is exactly the condition that overwhelms a domestic-scale system. Potable water drawn from a private supply is regulated under the private water supply regime and needs testing.

Where any of this needs to be evidenced for a subsequent application, a Foul Sewage Assessment sets out the arrangements formally.

Moving to a permanent permission

The temporary right is a trial. If it works, the next step is a full planning application for a permanent campsite or holiday use, and that application is assessed on its merits against countryside and tourism policy.

Use the trial period to gather what the application will need:

• Vehicle counts and arrival patterns through the season.
• Photographs from public vantage points with tents in place, which are far more persuasive than a wireline drawing.
• A record of any complaints and how they were handled.
• Ecology observations that inform the scope of a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal.

That evidence turns a speculative application into a documented one. And keep the day count records, because an authority assessing a permanent application will look at how the temporary right was used.

Before applying, work out the document list for the permanent scheme: enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports the site is likely to need.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.