Thomas Agran

Tinkers’ Bubble, where the author first came into contact with the planning system.

Copyright 2018 Chapter 7Not-for-profit reproduction on paper is permitted.

Published by:Red Brick Books

an imprint of

Land & Sky Press

Red Brick Building

Glastonbury

Somerset

BA6 9FT

www.landandskypress.com

Contact the author:Simon Fairlie F.R.O.L.I.C.

Chapter 7Monkton Wyld Court

CharmouthBridport

Dorset, DT6 6DQ

chapter7@tlio.org.uk01297 561359

The advice contained in the Rural Planning Handbook is given in good faith and every care has been taken to ensure that it is as accurate as possible. However, Chapter 7 cannot be held liable for any claims arising and it is recommended that professional planning advice is obtained in matters of doubt.

Third Edition, Second Impression, Updated August 2018

ISBN: 978-1-9164918-0-9

≈ ≈

Rural Planning Handbook for low impact developers

Simon Fairlie

with contributions from Cathy Ashley, Simon Ruston, Erica Thompson

and an anonymous retired planning inspector

Contents1 Introduction to the Mysteries of the Planning System

Understanding The Mentality - An Overview Of The English Planning System - Ground Rules For An Easy Life - What Should I Do First — Move On Or Apply For Permission?

2 Permitted DevelopmentWhat Is and Isn’t Development? • What is Permitted Development? • A List of the Most Relevant Permitted Development Rights

3 Making a Planning ApplicationSubmitting a planning application • Putting in a Convincing Application •

After Submitting the Application

4 Rural Workers’ DwellingsWhat Is A Rural Worker? • Essential Need • The Weight to be Attached to the Policy •

The Functional Need Test • The Financial Test • Other Requirements • Temporary and Permanent

Permission • Presenting your Evidence • Conditions and Section 106 Agreements •

The Live-Work Alternative • The Barn Builder’s Caravan Gambit • Annex A of PPG7

5 Non-Agricultural DwellingsTwenty Not Very Reliable Ways to Secure an Affordable Rural Dwelling •

Some Thoughts On Strategy • The Human Rights Act

6 CaravansDefinition of Caravan • When is Planning Permission Needed? • Permitted Development, Including Seasonal Use

7 Lawful Development Certificates 4 Years or 10? • Ways to Slip Up • How to Apply • Lawful Development Certificates in Other Situations

8 Appeals and Public InquiriesWhat is an Appeal? • Deciding Whether to Appeal • Submitting an Appeal • Written Representations •

Hearings • Preparing for a Public Inquiry •The Public Inquiry: On the Day • After the Appeal

9 Appeal Decisions and Case Law

10 EnforcementOverview of The Enforcement Regime • The Barking Stage • The Biting Stage

11 Gypsies and Travellers — by Simon RuSton

Gypsy Status: Definition Of Gypsy/Traveller • Planning Policy For Traveller Sites • Determining Planning Applications

12 Wales — moStly by ERica thompSoin

Planning Law: More Similar than Different • Planning Policy Guidance: TAN6 • One Planet Development

13 Scotland — by cathy aShlEy

An introduction to planning law in Scotland • The Scottish Planning System • Making a Planning

Application • Permitted Development • Appeals • Enforcement • Certificates of Lawful Use and

Development • Rural Dwellings Policies • Huts and Hutting • Crofting • Other Land Issues

14 Resources, Index and Glossary

Foreword

The Purpose of the Handbook

The Rural Planning Handbook aims to provide a basic introduction to more or less everything that someone wanting to live a modest, sustainable, land-based existence in the English countryside might need to know about the planning system. It is designed to help small farmers, smallholders, forestry workers, permaculturists, low impact builders, caravan dwellers and low income people facing planning applications, appeals and enforcement on land in the countryside where they live or work. You can use it to do your own planning — or else to check up that your planning consultant is on the ball. There are a few things we don’t cover — notably how to get agricultural occupancy conditions removed, because I don’t approve of them. The DIY Planning Handbook (as it was originally called) was first published by Chapter 7 in 2003. It went out of print in 2015, because I couldn’t keep up with the programme of reforms to planning law and policy introduced by the coalition government, through its Secretary of State for Local Government, Eric Pickles — reforms which caused a maximum amount of procedural uncertainty for a relatively small amount of actual change.In that respect, Brexit has been something of a blessing, since the government put matters such as planning reform on the back-burner, giving time for me to catch up. After three years of trying to update the handbook, in May 2018 I was finally in a position to present it to the public — not least all the people who had been writing to me asking when is it going to reappear. But no sooner had I done so than the Government rushed out a revised version of the National Planning Policy Framework, which changes almost nothing of relevance to the readers of this book, other than the numbering of all the paragraphs.

About Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is an organization which emerged out of the Rural Planning Group of The Land Is Ours in 1999. Its mission is to campaign for “access to land for all households through environmentally sound planning” — a quote from chapter 7C of Agenda 21, signed by the government of the UK and most other countries at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.From 1999 to 2006 Chapter 7 was a membership organization, producing a newsletter, Chapter 7 News. It published policy documents, responded to

government consultation exercises, provided a free planning advice service for low impact developers, and produced planning advice briefing papers which in 2003 were amalgamated into the DIY Planning Handbook. In 2004, Chapter 7 organized a successful direct action which saved Tony Wrench’s roundhouse at Brithdir Mawr from demolition, and then lobbied for the low impact development policies in Wales which eventually became the One Planet Development policy.In 2006, Chapter7 News ceased publication and was replaced by The Land magazine, which has a broader focus on land rights in general, but still carries a section on planning entitled “Chapter 7 News”. Much of the planning advisory work formerly carried out by Chapter 7 is now provided by a handful of committed and competent low impact planning consultants, while advances in policy are currently being spearheaded by the One Planet Council in Wales. Chapter 7 is now little more than a one man-band, namely myself — and I have a small dairy farm to run, which is more interesting than planning consultancy.However, there is still a need for a document which explains all the complexities of the planning system for people embarking on the perilous project of establishing an affordable rural home and livelihood in a country that prides itself in being in the vanguard of dysfunctional urban capitalism. No one else has written one, and so Chapter 7 lives on in this, the third edition, of the Handbook.

Index

Before you use this handbook, try skimming through the index/glossary in Chapter 14. It will give you a good idea of what’s here. This list provides definitions of planning terms, directs you to the most relevant chapters, and in some cases gives additional information not provided elsewhere in the text. Providing an index with page numbers is problematic, because of the frequent need to add material to the book. I will be providing a more precise index in time, but for the moment the index just contains chapter references. Some items have no chapter reference as yet. Chapters 11, 12 and 13 are not yet fully covered by this list.

Warnings and Apologies

Planning guidance is constantly changing and I am constantly learning. The handbook is printed in small print runs, so that it can be regularly updated. I make every effort to see that the information contained is correct and up to date. Most of the information is correct, but there will be mistakes, and I rely upon readers to point them out if you spot them.

If your case hangs crucially upon anything stated in these briefings, I advise you to check with another source. I could have got it wrong, or policy may have changed. You are welcome to email me to enquire about any particular matter.I do not make every effort to see that the presentation of this information is perfect. I have better things to do with my time. You may therefore find typographical errors, formatting inconsistencies, and page number references that are wrong. I apologize for these, but not abjectly. The Index currently only refers to chapters; I aim to insert page number references in the future.I also apologize for producing such a mountain of boring information. I hope it is not as boring to read as it has been to write. If anybody had told me at the age of 20 that I would end up writing planning manuals, I would have stopped taking drugs immediately and gone back to college. But if this manual helps people steer round the obstacles which an uncomprehending bureaucracy erects to prevent them staking out a sustainable and self-reliant way of life, then I trust the effort will have been worth it.

Acknowledgements

The Rural Planning Handbook has been compiled by myself, with extensive and valuable input from a former Planning Inspector who wishes to remain anonymous. I am also grateful to Erica Thompson, Cathy Ashley and Simon Ruston, who are the authors of the sections on Wales, Scotland and Gypsies respectively. I wish also to thank Alison Heine, James Shorten, Jyoti Fernandes, Zoe Wangler, Pete Grugeon, Martin Goodall, Lucy Murfett, Bee Laughton, Beverly White — and all those who have taken the time to explain their own planning odyssey to me, or written in with useful hints and tips. Finally my thanks go to Stefan Parsons for the layout and Gill Barron for proof reading illustrations and scrambled eggs.

Please Contribute to the Handbook

I rely on you the reader to keep us in touch. If you think there is anything that needs adding or altering please contact me. I am keen to hear of appeal decisions, whether successful or unsuccessful; and particularly eager to hear about planning consultants and lawyers who have performed well (or atrociously). Simon Fairlie

Monkton Wyld, May 2018