[peartreewoodlandsmallholding]

hi, I wanted to put in a new gateway on the road into my field, i was told by one person i may need planning permission to do this and have been told by another that as long as the other gateway stays in place i dont need planning?? im confused , i didn,t want to use it for vehicle access as such just for when i use a trailer to drop off or pick up livestock, as the entrance i already have is on a blind corner and the cars come flying up the lane and its dangerous, having an entrance at the other end of my field would make things so much easier for me. Any advice would be appreciated!!

[Tala Orchard]

Hi, firstly if this is a second entrance and the first is adequate and does not cause you or other road users problems you will with out a doubt need Planning Permission, and unless you have a need for a second entrance it will be difficult as to have two exits within a short distance would not be approved by highways.

If you need it as the current one is dangerous then you should apply to have the current one closed and the new opened again you will have to convince not only the planners but also highways.

It will also depend upon the type of public road ie what classification of road it is.

Tala Orchard

[lachlanandmarcus]

Talas advice is spot on.

[Greenerlife]

Great advice Tala!  I am in dispute with a neighbour because he has put a gate into his bit of an ajoined field without planning permission, as it is not fenced between the two fields I now have a security risk.  Fuming...

[Fleecewife]

We had a similar situation to yours - existing field gate too dangerous for livestock (even though we are on an unclassified road it is a rat run so fast traffic on a bend with a hidden dip).  We put in a new gateway directly opposite our existing one on this side of the road, so the crossing was as brief as possible (it's still quite dodgy, but we have to access our fields somehow).  We had no idea we might need permission to do this.  Neighbour complained as he has nothing better to do with his life.  The Roads man came along, prepared to be horrible about it, but when I explained the situation and that it would improve safety, he gave official approval for what we had done.  We had to fill in a retrospective request to 'open the road' (ie take a bit of the verge), but definitely didn't need planning permission.  This is in Scotland so will probably differ from the situation in England, NI and Wales.
We didn't have to close the old gate.

[suziequeue]

Our roads man has been very helpful when we made changes to our access driveway. Might be worth contacting him/her first to ask the question and open the dialogue.


Then - if you do need planning permission, they might be able to steer you in the direction that is most likely to be successful.

[HesterF]

Yes, agree that you will need permission - the Highways Agency should approve it. We've got a gate that we know was not applied for so we're aware that it may come up as an issue but it's been there for a couple of years so we're hoping it never does (we were just unofficially warned about it when we bought). Problem is, as others have found, if you don't apply and others object, then you might have an issue.

H

[ScotsGirl]

Unfortunately not only does it require planning permission but the neighbours and parish council can object and stop you as we found out. Despite original entrance being deemed dangerous the parish council objected as new entrance would have been right opposite their gate (we had sited it opposite a hedge but they fried to realise that).


Their objection stood and despite the better visibility which highways agreed, we had to stick with old gateway. So we dice with death every time we leave the field.


Good luck!

[HesterF]

In theory objections from the neighbours and parish council should just be taken into account with the other factors so if there is a strong reason for moving it (like Highways safety), you'd hope the planners would overide the objections. In practice I'm sure it doesn't always work like that - as with anything to do with planning.

H

[Roxy]

Our new land was part of a dairy farm, and as such, the entrance was via another field.  Apparantly some while ago, the ex owner put a new entrance gate onto  the road, so the land could be sold separate.  On this occasion, no permission was required as the road (which is a rat run) is NOT a classified road, as in an A or B.  Neighbours alongside have all got gates too.  So may depend on what sort of road you are pulling out on to ....and also if its just a track, who owns it, and the grass verge, may come into it.

[goosepimple]

Yes you will and it may take a bit of time to get - your line of vision, road speed etc all need to be checked by Highways Dept, who may or may not be quick with your application depending on what other Local Plan things are going on in your area.

[feldar]

We certainly had to apply for a new gateway for our road going up to the farm. They also said it had to be accessable by a fire engine because we had a hay barn, so they came and measured up to make sure the fire engine could turn in without hazard from the road.

[Tudful Tamworths]

Don't you just love planning departments? We had a shared (awkward) access and applied for planning so we could have access from our bottom fields up to the house. We were told we didn't need it - they just gave advice on line of sight etc, which we followed.

Well, the track (pretty long) took us a couple of years to complete (doing it part-time, when we could fit it in) and, just as we were nearing the end, some busybody from the village complained to the council that we didn't have planning permission. After supplying all the original paperwork to the planning dept, we were told that we did NOT need planning for the access itself, but we DID for the track! We asked how on earth they thought we'd be able to drive uphill over muddy, often waterlogged fields, without a surfaced track, and they said they assumed all farmers had 4x4s!
Anyway, we had to apply for planning and eventually got it, but the conservation department (I used to work for a conservation charity, but these types can be a real pain in the arse sometimes because they don't live in the real world) wanted it to be just a plain grass track. That would have been no good to us, so we explained why we had laid down scalpings. Then they "compromised" and said it had to be covered with soil and grass seed! From what I remember, we told them we'd do what we could to make it blend in, and (touch wood), we've not heard anything for about three years. Let's hope it stays that way!