Change of use & Shed

[windfall]

Hi All,

 

I am currently writing a letter to local planning as i am wanting to use a section of my land to process cord and sell logs from. So I will be requesting to change the agricultural land to commercial and also asking for a shed to work in and store machinery & feed for the small holding.

 

The planning officer wants a letter explaining and outlining my intentions as well as a scale map with the proposed work drawn on before he will talk to me about it.

 

He has however, been very nice and quick to respond, he said he wants the above info so that he can advise on what i will and wont be given permission for and what i can do without seeking permission.

 

Couldnt ask for a better first contact really but i would like to know if anyone has any advice on what i should and shouldnt be saying to him?

[Ty Unnos]

You might already be aware but you may not need planning permission for the shed.

 

Do you have more than five hectares of agricultural land? Or are you doing any forestry on the land?

 

If so you have permitted development rights, parts 6 and 7 here:

 

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995

 

Basically you have the right to build a shed for agricultural or forestry use if you meet the criteria. The council cannot say no but they can argue you do not meet the criteria.

 

Hope this helps.

[arbmark]

You might already be aware but you may not need planning permission for the shed.

 

Do you have more than five hectares of agricultural land? Or are you doing any forestry on the land?

 

If so you have permitted development rights, parts 6 and 7 here:

 

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995

 

Basically you have the right to build a shed for agricultural or forestry use if you meet the criteria. The council cannot say no but they can argue you do not meet the criteria.

 

Hope this helps.

 

he's processing which is a different use class from forestry, believe it or not, hence the need to apply for business use....now windfall has admitted retailing logs they will want him to apply for it i expect...its good to keep things legit and the planners are usually helpful when you go to them, at least on the face of it.

[Mortimer Firewood]

Keep us posted as i will be interested in the outcome

[Justme]

For forestry PD there is no minimum acreage.

[windfall]

In my favour with planning i have entered the Government Subsidised Small Forestry Scheme Twice on differnt sections of my land, both small planations are doing very well but they are only half and acre each. My letter mentions this and that i have planted a further 200 Ash whips since...

 

Letter is written and the childish drawings have been made to a details site map... fingers crossed!

[windfall]

Had a meeting today with our planning officer, nice young guy who very politely told me that the processing of wood brought from off-site would be an industrial process and as such there would be no policy support for this to take place in the countryside. Instead, such development is to be directed to industrial land. On this basis he feels that an application for this development would not be successful.

 

Bugger.

 

He confirmed that processing the timber from windfall, thinning and coppicing the 3 acres of woodland on my property can of course be carried out on site as this is agricultural. Also processing bought in timber for my own use and my families and friends use is allowed as its not commercial / industrial.

 

However, when pushed he went on to say that they are reactionary and can only act on a complaint from a near neighbour. That complaint has to be justified, and he gave an example of noise late into the evening.

 

So reading between the lines, I wont be allowed to do what i am doing officially but so long as i do not piss the neighbours off who are 4 fields away i can carry on.

 

Plus points were a shed for agricultural use would be looked on favourably so long as it was of a size thats in proportion with our small holding. So no aircraft hanger but a 30ft x 30ft would be reasonable.

 

We did speak about other things and the surprise for me was that if there is a muddy bit on my field where i drive my tractor I would need planning permission to use a digger to scrape the mud / slurry.... Effectively thats engineering works and requires permission! FFS i will need permission to fart in my van next!! What a load of boll ocks.

[Jack Price]

thankyou for taking your time to write this, I'm in a very

similar situation to you and this has shed a lot of light! thanks!

[Mortimer Firewood]

Bet your relieved this is one thing that i must get around to sorting although i have a big family so the odd 100t can be explained:lol:

[Ty Unnos]

I know of at least one site which got planning permission to bring in and process wood. It is a rural location. They did have a right battle to get planning but they did win. I think they are restricted to eight artic loads a year.