20 x 20 lunge pen

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Rudders74

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Slightly different to the earlier arena thread, but do you need planning permission to put a simple (20 x 20 round or square, no roof, just open) surfaced area down (with appropriate drainage etc) for lunging? Has anyone done this and any ideas of costs and good companies in the Midlands that will do it all?

I'm sure I'm just dreaming and reality will wake me up when I see the costs but I have a wasted area 20 x 20 currently doing nothing and every time I walk past it I start envisaging a lovely lunge pen!
 
Lunge pen? It looks like a small field to me from where I'm standing and you don't need planning for that! Just do it. Does it really need hard surfaces. Could you get away with bark? It will probably be ignored unless someone complains.

While on holiday in Ireland, I drove down a street with small terraced houses, side by side. Each had a tiny garden in the front. In one garden, a man was lunging his horse! There was barely room and it definitely wasn't 20x20! Only in Ireland could that happen!
 
Dry Rot said:
Lunge pen? It looks like a small field to me from where I'm standing and you don't need planning for that! Just do it. Does it really need hard surfaces. Could you get away with bark? It will probably be ignored unless someone complains.

While on holiday in Ireland, I drove down a street with small terraced houses, side by side. Each had a tiny garden in the front. In one garden, a man was lunging his horse! There was barely room and it definitely wasn't 20x20! Only in Ireland could that happen!
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Its a different going on in Ireland altogether ! makes me giggle eveytime I go across !
 
Rudders74 said:
Slightly different to the earlier arena thread, but do you need planning permission to put a simple (20 x 20 round or square, no roof, just open) surfaced area down (with appropriate drainage etc) for lunging? Has anyone done this and any ideas of costs and good companies in the Midlands that will do it all?

I'm sure I'm just dreaming and reality will wake me up when I see the costs but I have a wasted area 20 x 20 currently doing nothing and every time I walk past it I start envisaging a lovely lunge pen!
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If you use Heras fencing you can as long as the feet re dug down 6 inches to make it max 6ft.d
 
I think that anything that involves groundworks and drainage with a different surface to the original (eg not grass in your case) going down needs planning

I also think you can put something down on top of the grass like bark and get away with it however its always worth a phone call to check that your 'all weather turnout pen' will be allowed

I don't know what the position is if you dig and put drains in but then put grass back on top - may be worth asking as that could be usable for much of the year and would be better than nothing
 
Phone the planning department and they will say you need to apply for them to answer your question…and PAY A FEE. If someone objects, you can always apply for pp retrospectively. But I'd call it a sheep pen and let them prove different. They won't want to take it to court anyway.
 
We did ours without planning as used Heras fencing which is 'temporary' and got a huge load of bark from the local tree surgeon for free and he gladly tops it up when needed as it saves him getting rid of it. We didn't put lights on it though as thought would be pushing it a bit far. Whole thing cost £250 including the cost of hiring a 3.5 tonne lorry to collect the fencing. We got the fencing secondhand from Preloved and just welded the broken ones then took all the rough bits off so there is nothing sharp if the horses brush against it.
 
B&J said:
We did ours without planning as used Heras fencing which is 'temporary' and got a huge load of bark from the local tree surgeon for free and he gladly tops it up when needed as it saves him getting rid of it. We didn't put lights on it though as thought would be pushing it a bit far. Whole thing cost £250 including the cost of hiring a 3.5 tonne lorry to collect the fencing. We got the fencing secondhand from Preloved and just welded the broken ones then took all the rough bits off so there is nothing sharp if the horses brush against it.
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Wow, now that's a cost I could stomach!! Well done you. Does the bark get muddy? How deep did you fill it?
 
Nope no mud at all and its been used daily by 3 horses throughout winter. We didn't do drainage but it is right next to a ditch on clay soil. We cleared the base down to mud then put the bark straight on top, about 6 - 8 inches deep then compacted it then put another couple of inches on. We are careful to rake it after every use (ocd about it being flat) but seems to work and horses go well on it. We used 16 panels and its big enough to lunge a 16.2hh happily and ride (walk & trot) a 15.2hh hw cob but too small to canter although he happily canters on lunge rein in there. Its also excellent for free schooling and they have a horseball to play with in there too. Well worth the investment!
 
B&J said:
Nope no mud at all and its been used daily by 3 horses throughout winter. We didn't do drainage but it is right next to a ditch on clay soil. We cleared the base down to mud then put the bark straight on top, about 6 - 8 inches deep then compacted it then put another couple of inches on. We are careful to rake it after every use (ocd about it being flat) but seems to work and horses go well on it. We used 16 panels and its big enough to lunge a 16.2hh happily and ride (walk & trot) a 15.2hh hw cob but too small to canter although he happily canters on lunge rein in there. Its also excellent for free schooling and they have a horseball to play with in there too. Well worth the investment!
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Awesome, I must go in search of a tree surgeon!
 
Just google the local ones and ask, some charge, some don't :) I had to do a bit of searching for the fencing but it's out there :)
 
B&J said:
Just google the local ones and ask, some charge, some don't :) I had to do a bit of searching for the fencing but it's out there :)
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Just found one that offers free delivery by the van load but it's wood chippings rather than bark. Was yours actually bark and would this rot down less than wood chip?
 
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