Permitted Development on Agricultural Land

Most farms will benefit from permitted development rights when it comes to construction works that are essential to the farming business but the extent of any permitted development will usually be based on one of two things.

Firstly the land where the development is proposed needs to be in agricultural use. We have other blogs that stipulate what is and is not classed as agriculture that may be worth a look if you are unsure.

Assuming the land is in agricultural use then the next important step will be the size of your agricultural unit.

An agricultural unit can be formed of various parcels of land farmed by you and does not have to relate only to the parcel of land where you intend to carry out the proposed development. If your agricultural unit covers less than 0.4ha then its bad news because you wont benefit from agricultural permitted development rights. Your only option in this instance would be to submit a detailed planning application for your farm building or yard area etc.

There is nothing to suggest a detailed planning application for an agricultural development would be refused, it just means that you cannot circumnavigate the planning process using agricultural PD rights. Assuming the application is still supportable the only downside is likely to be cost of the detailed planning application and the length of time it may take to obtain a decision from the local authority. The application cost will depend on what the application is for with the planning application fee being based on either the floor area of any new agricultural building or the site area of the development footprint. With regards timescales, under normal circumstances you would expect the local authority to make a decision within 12 weeks but it is not unusual for delays to occur when dealing with local authorities.

If your agricultural unit is less than 5ha but more than 0.4ha then your agricultural permitted development rights will be covered by what is known as Class B. If your agricultural unit is in excess of 5ha then you benefit from Class A agricultural PD rights.

Further information on agricultural PD can be found in our blogs.