[welshlass181]

Right i am confussed  i've been told that i can have a feed store on my land to store the feed for my pigs and eventually my horses.  I phoned the local PP officer and he has now told me that i have to spend £61 to "apply" to chance the use of the land?  The land is agri and not greenbelt/wedge.  I've got 9 pigs on the field they're in wooden arks.  I am in South Wales (not sure if that makes a difference) the land is 1 hec and there are no houses within a 400 meters.  I want a wooden shed/feedstore on paving stone or hardcore base.  Can anybody shed some light on this?  Failing that i'm just going to put it up and argue the toss when it all falls out of bed

[Rosemary]

This is the advice I got from our planning officer.

"Rosemary, the tests of whether PP is required in this case are basically:
Is the building for an agri purpose on an agri unit  of more than 0.4Ha?
Would the building plus any others erected in the last 2 years exceed 265sqm?
Would any part of the building be within 25m of a metalled portion of a classified road?
Would the height of the building exceed 12m?

If the answer is NO to all of these questions, then no PP is required.  Hope that helps. "

Although you don't need planning permission, you do need some other kind of notification but I can't remember what it is. I don't understand why he's asking you ato apply for change of use since you're not changing the use. As I understand it, grazing horses is compatible with agicultural use. It's only if you want to put up an arena or gallops and stuff that it changes to equestrian use.

I'm sure others will have more information.

[shetlandpaul]

you mentioned horses to them. just change it to a feed store and stick your notice in. thou if you have only a couple of acres then you may need planning permission. don't mention feed for horses. if after your feed store is built you want to store a few sacks of horse food in it nobody will care.

[sabrina]

Do you have a Holding Number, round here all sort of things have been built, hay shed made out of iron sheeting, right eye sore, stables, riding arena all without planning.  We store our tractor , hay and straw in one barn, ponies stables are in the other . one we use for the chickens another the pigs if they need shelter  no planning needed as they were here being used for pigs before we came. I did think we would need a change of use but our nice farmer friend told us how to get round it and we did. Even had sheep in the stable building when lambing.

[darkbrowneggs]

Hi again - Why not buy an old transit luton van, and park it up and de-register it with the road tax office.  Metal body will be completely rodent proof.  Roller shutter back door for loading in.  Its not a building so doesnt require PP

All the best
Sue

[doganjo]

That sounds good advice.  My friends are agents for  a dog food company and that is what they did as their shed wasn't big enough.  The container can be moved anytime and just to prove it they do so every now and then - about 6 inches

[shetlandpaul]

you may need permision for a steel container. our primary wanted one to store out door toys in and they had to get permission and paint it a specific colour.

[pikilily]

Hi all,  Ref the horses on pasture bit etc. You can graze horses on your pasture, if it is deemed agricultural, but you cant ride in your own fields!! i had quite a discussion with my local planning office re this.

So current rules; I cant ride in my fields, BUT i can ride in my neighbours grazing/'agricultural' fields under the ''access'' and 'right to roam' regulations. Likewise my neighbour can ride in MY fields but cant ride in hers!!! How bl**dy daft is that??

I had to do a change of use for my ground which is now laid out in a woodchip arena, despite the proovable fact that the ground had been used for grazing and riding for >30 years.

Rules is rules!
Emma T

[lachlanandmarcus]

It may be what the planners are talking about is 'agricultural notification'. Basically if you want to put up an agricultural shed, you have to pay a fee (much less than a PP fee tho) and submit it as an agric prior notification. This means the planners then look at it and confirm that you are a holding and it is for agric purposes and they are happy with construction/drainage/position etc. After 30 days they will either have confirmed you can go ahead under the agric exemptions from planning, or will write to you to advise it doesnt come under the exemption and a full PP app is required, with their reasons.

If you dont hear from them at all within 30 days of them registering your prior notification, you can advise them in writing that they havent complied with the rules and you are going to go ahead. Or at least thats how it all works where we are. NB We have a 40 acre holding and i know the rules are tighter if you are under 5 hectares (ours is 17 point something) so there are probably extra restrictions and hurdles for your holding - check out what they are with the council.

I wouldnt advise going ahead without complying just cos there are other old sheds, the rules have changed since they went up. Its still a big benefit and much cheaper than PP and it means buildings that wouldnt have a cat in hells chance of getting PP if non agric can be put up in order to store feed/machinery/hay etc.

Ring them up and talk to them, find out if the above is what they are talking about. Its not change of use, but it is an admin hurdle.

[bazzais]

You cant do the 28 day prior notification with just 5 acres as the rules are designed to aid people whos primary income is derived from agricultural enterprises and who need to keep up with modern farming methods and safe dry feed storage.

I presume you dont live anywhere near the land(?) as you can build a shed within your own boundary without permission without a problem, if you do live onsite then just build the shed next to the house and buy a quad to carry food and bedding. 

The worst thing I ever did was to contact planning to ask, as you have done, best keep things under the radar - whats law is law and although you can rub the planners up the wrong way they have to abide by the law and if planning would have been given in the first place you will get it retrospectively, so you may as well do first and then answer later (with borderline stuff like shed and portable buildings).

For small sheds and minor things I will never ask a planner again.

Baz