The weekend before last we had a stand at the National Equine Show, at the NEC, Birmingham, where we got to speak to lots of you about your potential equestrian (and other) developments and, sadly, some of your ongoing planning problems.
The weekend was another great success for us, and we spoke to people far and wide across the country and, as we normally do after these events, we thought we would do an overview of the five most commonly asked questions from the event as well as provide links to varying resources we have prepared over the last year or so.
- How can you find out what is possible before you buy a potential site or piece of land?
We, as a Company, offer Development Appraisals which a lot of people use pre-purchase to ascertain whether there are any complete showstoppers which would result in your aspirations for the land being completely unachievable. Think of them like a getting a survey done, like you would a house in many cases, to check for any issues but planning related.
In addition to this you do, of course, have the potential to apply to the Council for pre-application advice, however, this can have its disadvantages including the fact that it is without prejudice to the determination of an application (so it is still possible to get a refusal after a positive pre-application response) and it can take some time to get a response due to the current workload of varying Councils. Some Councils have, in fact, closed off their pre-application advice service for the time being.
We spoke to a few of you who had tried to undertake pre-application advice applications yourselves, however, were faced with requests from the Council for plans and more information than you perhaps envisaged in order for them to complete their response. We can undertake a Development Appraisal ourselves or, alternatively, can assist you with applying to the Council for pre-application advice, including the provision of plans, should you wish to have a response from the Council directly prior to proceeding with an application or purchasing a site.
Relevant Link: NEW YEAR, NEW PROJECTS? – The Equestrian Planning Consultancy
- Do you need planning permission for an equestrian arena or, for example, all weather turn-out areas?
Planning for arenas comes under the umbrella, in planning terms, of Engineering Operations and the main considerations are size and topography (whether there would be any groundworks or changes to site levels required), whether there would be any ecological or tree constraints as a result of construction and general siting within the landscape and proximity to other development.
You do not need planning permission, in most cases, for fencing, turnout areas or equestrian arenas but it should be kept in mind that Article 3(5) Part (b) of the General Permitted Development Order requires that fencing that is to be constructed must be for the purposes for the lawful use of the land to be permitted development. This means, therefore, that if you do not have the appropriate, concurrent, equestrian use of the site (in planning terms) care should be taken with regard to fencing which may relate to a future equestrian use.
In some cases, therefore, fencing does need to form part of an application and should be assessed as a material consideration which can be of particular relevance to, for example, the character of the landscape in areas which are within the National Landscape (formerly known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
Relevant Link: ALL ABOUT ARENAS – The Equestrian Planning Consultancy
- Whether equestrian is a change of use?
Horses can, under various pieces of Case Law, be classified as grazing within the definition of agriculture in certain circumstances. Despite this, it is a very fine line between this and equestrian use and generally speaking, if you are supplementary feeding your horses, rugging them or riding out from the site (or on the site) this would come under the umbrella of equestrian use. The horses are then being kept on the land rather than living off the land (by surviving on grass eaten in the field). This would be the most notable point that an equestrian change of use is required and is why we generally combine change of use applications with applications for stabling as required.
Relevant Link: Horses – Do you need planning permission? – The Equestrian Planning Consultancy
- When can certificate of lawfulness be used?
Certificates of lawfulness can be utilised for several matters, but they are evidence based. Most commonly, in relation to the enquiries we receive, they can be utilised to certify that a planning breach has been undertaken or occurring for long enough so that it exceeds the relevant enforcement windows set out within the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended).
It is of significant note that as a result of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA) the planning enforcement periods, effective from the 25 April 2024, have moved to a flat-rate 10-year enforcement period. This is a notable change to, for example, the previous 4-year period for substantial completion of a building.
There are, however, transitional arrangements contained within regulation 5 of the LURA so it is important to consider, in such situations, which rules you would be considered against and what would be the best route to regularise any outstanding breaches of planning depending on the facts of the case and what had happened on a site-by-site basis.
Relevant Link: CHANGES TO ENFORCEMENT TIMESCALES THIS MONTH! – The Equestrian Planning Consultancy
- What is Biodiversity Net Gain?
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a way of creating and improving natural habitats. BNG makes sure that development has a measurably positive impact (net gain) on Biodiversity, compared to what was there before development. Developments must deliver a BNG of 10%. This means a development will result in more or better-quality natural habitat than there was before development. It is applicable to all developments with only limited exceptions such as, for example, retrospective applications, householder applications or self-build dwellings.
Your application will need to be accompanied by supporting documentation which measure Biodiversity in Standardised Biodiversity Units. This usually depends on size, quality, location and type units are generally lost through development or generated through work to enhance or create habitats.
Such work is usually undertaken by an ecologist and there is a statutory metric (official) that you must use to measure BNG as part of a proposal. The calculations demonstrate how BNG can be delivered within the site or, in some cases, offsite through provision of BNG credits which can be purchased and secured via legal agreements. Any permission granted will be subject to conditions including, for example, conditions that require submission of habitat management and monitoring plans which set out how Biodiversity Gains will be managed for the required period (30 years).
Relevant Link: Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in practice so far… – The Equestrian Planning Consultancy
Thank you to everyone who came to see us over the weekend at the NEC – it was great to see potential new clients as well as, of course, catching up with some of our existing clients where we have current and live applications being determined at the moment.
If any of you, who spoke to us over the weekend, have any other further thoughts or queries or wish to follow up on the discussions which we had, please do not hesitate to drop us an email and we will come back to you as soon as we can to see how we can assist you with progressing your proposals for your equestrian development.
Remember, however, that apart from equestrian development we do all other types of planning and development through our main company, Eldnar, so do go over to that website if there are other matters which you think we can assist with!