Forestry workers dwelling.... and that thing called Planning!!

[richy_B]

I'm no expert but from my understanding in order to get an agricultural/forestry dwelling you are going to need to prove a very strong case for why you need to live on site. Again just my understanding but I would have thought you'd need a genuine need to be there for more than 50% of your whole week (over 85 hours a week). That there is no genuine alternative (ie local housing you could live at). That there is an genuine occupational need to be there and it is not just lifestyle. Finally I would expect it needs to be financially viable according to a planners perspective (ie the business enterprise makes enough income to provide you and your family an average income). I would expect this would need to genuinely be £20k plus and you could argue that you live sustainably and can survive on £6k a year like some of the hippy esque people who attempt this.

 

From what I have seen, if you have 12 acres or more and genuinely need to be there you can easily get permission to site a static caravan. This will generally have a 2-3 year time limit. In that time you need to prove all the points above to the planners.

 

It's definitely not easy as not many people achieve it. I suppose though if you could live in a static for three years you could do some serious saving and if it didn't work out have a decent deposit for somewhere else.

[timbernut]

You can apply for 3 yrs temp planning in order to prove the financial viability of your business plan (which you must supply to council) and you need functional need to be there in first place. PPG 7 states you need to make and agricultural wage in at least 1 of the 3 yrs but like most things in planning this may well depend on your LPAs own interpretation of planning law. We had a ******* nightmare with them! If I wasn't a pig trottered typist I would write a whole lot more informative stuffbut I'm too slow n need to get to work!

PS Ben Law IS a hippy and also a bit of a design genius

[SteveA]

Is this a shack?[ATTACH]195910[/ATTACH]

 

Not at all!... that looks great.

Did you go through planning hell for that?

cheers, steve

[aspenarb]

Not at all!... that looks great.

Did you go through planning hell for that?

cheers, steve

 

If its in a secluded spot away from prying eyes just do it and keep your head down. As a friend of mine says "it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission". Most LPA`s have a " the answer is no what is the question" policy.

 

Bob

[SteveA]

I'm no expert but from my understanding in order to get an agricultural/forestry dwelling you are going to need to prove a very strong case for why you need to live on site. Again just my understanding but I would have thought you'd need a genuine need to be there for more than 50% of your whole week (over 85 hours a week). That there is no genuine alternative (ie local housing you could live at). That there is an genuine occupational need to be there and it is not just lifestyle. Finally I would expect it needs to be financially viable according to a planners perspective (ie the business enterprise makes enough income to provide you and your family an average income). I would expect this would need to genuinely be £20k plus and you could argue that you live sustainably and can survive on £6k a year like some of the hippy esque people who attempt this.

 

From what I have seen, if you have 12 acres or more and genuinely need to be there you can easily get permission to site a static caravan. This will generally have a 2-3 year time limit. In that time you need to prove all the points above to the planners.

 

It's definitely not easy as not many people achieve it. I suppose though if you could live in a static for three years you could do some serious saving and if it didn't work out have a decent deposit for somewhere else.

 

- Yep, the 'essential need to be on site' elements seem to be a key aspect... things like charcoal burning, lambing season, brushing Lammas?!.... etc.

 

- Our local housing opportunities might as well be zero.... not many houses around and those that come on the market are completely unaffordable (by a huge margin).

 

- I find the income/ residence element a which came first?...chicken or egg situation!

 

- We've got 34 acres and half is woodland. I've been pondering with making our own twin static with an oak frame & decent levels of insulation..... but it's quite a bit of work if we could only live in it for 3 years.

 

cheers, steve

 

You can apply for 3 yrs temp planning in order to prove the financial viability of your business plan (which you must supply to council) and you need functional need to be there in first place. PPG 7 states you need to make and agricultural wage in at least 1 of the 3 yrs but like most things in planning this may well depend on your LPAs own interpretation of planning law. We had a ******* nightmare with them! If I wasn't a pig trottered typist I would write a whole lot more informative stuffbut I'm too slow n need to get to work!

PS Ben Law IS a hippy and also a bit of a design genius

 

Pig trottered typist.

Just to throw hell into the equation our farm is in a National Park.

We had to go to appeal to prove our Permitted Development rights, won that.

They don't seem to know what they are doing and like to say no to everything.

cheers, steve

[SteveA]

If its in a secluded spot away from prying eyes just do it and keep your head down. As a friend of mine says "it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission". Most LPA`s have a " the answer is no what is the question" policy.

 

Bob

 

Good suggestion, but.... its secluded but not completely secluded so that would be pretty risky.... we've already been tackling our authority on a permitted development barn and polytunnel (got permission for both, eventually).

 

You are bang on the mark with "the answer is no what is the question?".... that is exactly what it's been like for us so far.

cheers, Steve

Edited December 23, 2015 by SteveA

[treequip]

If its in a secluded spot away from prying eyes just do it and keep your head down. As a friend of mine says "it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission". Most LPA`s have a " the answer is no what is the question" policy.

 

Bob

 

Mate of mine tried that and got himself a load of grief and still had to comply:thumbdown:

[aspenarb]

I know just doing it is risky but we work a lot of woodlands and there are hundreds of "illegally" built cabins with folk living in them dotted about . One I happened across yesterday is under construction in the middle of a massive clump of Rhody.

 

Bob

[arbwork]

About Hazel Woodland Products one of the 1st to achieve this, hard work basic life, respect to Hugh and Carolyn, for their commitment.

[SteveA]

About Hazel Woodland Products one of the 1st to achieve this, hard work basic life, respect to Hugh and Carolyn, for their commitment.

 

That's brilliant and very helpful.

cheers, steve