[frogstercouk]

Dear All,

My first post on here as i am looking to buy some land in my village to farm, the land is approximately 6 acres. 

My initial thoughts are that i want to put a small barn on the site that could be expanded later and a poly tunnel.  Neither of these is obviously allowed as permitted the area is less than the magic 5Ha, however they would (meeting the planning restrictions) be allowed under permitted if I had above 5Ha. 

So my question is:

• Do I rent additional land (which i can locally) to give me 5Ha and thus go through permitted route? If i do this, how long do i need to rent the additional land, or once things are built can i relinquish the lease?
   
• Apply for full planning planning?
  

Which is easier (Im less worried about the overall cost, speed and assurity are my main concerns)?

Thanks for your responses.

F

[arobwk]

I shall be as interested as you @frogstercouk to hear advice** from TAS members (welcome to TAS by the way and good luck with your project/s).
Rented/leased land can count towards the 5ha threshold, but, like you, I have never found an answer to the question** of how long does one need to rent/lease an amount of land - in other words what will your planning department be looking for to establish a serious rental/lease of land (not just a sham arrangement to by-pass full planning permission)?  I did actually flag this issue/question here once before, but am none the wiser to this day.

As to permitted development on 5ha+ :  I'm sure you are aware that PD still requires notification to Planning.  I've no idea what percentage of PDs go through without being contested, BUT they can be contested if Planning considers the proposed dev' is not in keeping with it's location etc etc etc and end up requiring a full planning app'.  And I seem to think, but am not sure, that land without any structures already will be reviewed very carefully by Planning if they receive a PD notification.

Something you might ask yourself (in deciding which way to go) is whether your proposals will be obtrusive on "virgin land" close to a village or whether they will be hardly noticed/noticeable due to topography, with good access and not bothering anybody etc etc etc.

Where are you by the way ?  (It helps to know as regards what advice might be given based on potentially local experience.)

[macgro7]

You don't need any planning permission for a polytunnel which is less than 2 metres high - which is plenty space unless you are looking to grow things commercially. For your own use you don't need any planning permission.

Our tunnel is 2mtrs high. 3 metres wide and 16 metres long - no planning permission was needed, neither we had any problems. It is clearly visible from the street - and we live in a city, and I spoke to council people about my city smallholding. I have several chicken aviaries, goats shed, hay shed and the above mentioned polytunnel.

Same with a shed/upto a certain size you don't need planning permission - e.g. horse field shelter, garden shed, I think upto 12ft?

If you are doing it for a purpose of "smallholding" and not commercial venture, don't worry you don't need any planning permission. A residential house is a completely different matter 

[landroverroy]

I went along the PD route for my first buildings. At that time I only owned @ 4 acres but rented more. I don't recall it being relevant how long I had rented, only how much land I had available in total at the time of the application.
It might be helpful to get the application form off the internet and see what it requires.