Advice needed with planning!

[Millie1990]

Hello! Please bear with me as I am completely new to this!
Last year we purchased 8 acres of agricultural land for our 9 ponies, 14 sheep, 3 goats and 30 odd chicken. All of these we keep for pleasure at current but in the future we aim to have a small business selling pedigree sheep.
We have recently put in planning permission for 4 stables with a small sheep barn attached. We decided to go for stables as they were multifunctional for the horses and goats - who are little escape artists!
Our plans have been rejected and one of the recommendations was that we put in planning permission to change the use of the land to equestrian. However this has caused me some concerns as
1. We have more livestock than horses.
2. We make hay off the land to be self sufficient for mainly the livestock not the horses as they are natives and are all in fat club!
3. Our local authority takes a negative opinion of equestrian facilities and this has been proven with are rejected application.

Can authorities refuse planning on the grounds that the land is agricultural?
Has anyone has any previous experience of this or have any advice?

I am honestly at a loss, I just want some shelter for my animals without it being detriment to the local area but planning is making it very difficult and have not given us any alternatives. They have also said that I would need planning permission for mobile shelters as we are in a national park!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Spotherisk]

Can you change your plans to have a purely agricultural barn, and show that it is needed for the livestock? Don’t mention the horses specifically.

 

[Millie1990]

Can you change your plans to have a purely agricultural barn, and show that it is needed for the livestock? Don’t mention the horses specifically.

Thanks for your reply @Spotherisk we have also thought about this but we would obviously have to change plans and added expense however this might be the only route we are able to go down.

 

[Spotherisk]

Thanks for your reply @Spotherisk we have also thought about this but we would obviously have to change plans and added expense however this might be the only route we are able to go down.

Understood - I too am in a NP and know how the planning costs rack up. Have you taken advice/had someone draw up the plans?

 

[PurBee]

You could try to find agricultural architects who specialise in navigating planning application laws on agri land - find a firm that operate in your county as each county has their own laws and quirks.
You may well be having difficulty because of the location being National Park Area.
To save costs you could have a ‘consultancy’ with them rather than get them to do the full planning app. Procedure. As youve already submitted 1 plan, and have feedback, that will give them enough data to help them advise you to alter/correct your application to try a 2nd time.

 

[millikins]

I know someone who is in all sorts of bother with the council for keeping horses on agricultural land, she is also in a national park. I believe that I'm right in saying you can only keep horses on agricultural land if they are treated as other "farm" animals, so no riding, feeding (except as a welfare issue), structures, jumps etc as this makes them part of a leisure activity and change of use must be sought. Many councils turn a blind eye but not all especially in a NP.

 

[Palindrome]

Could you make the sheep barn bigger and then add internal stables later on?

 

[Goldenstar]

There are specialist planning consultants in this field you will have one locally you to find out who it is and consult them .

 

[TGM]

Agree with Goldenstar that getting a planning consultant involved would help you a lot. One of our neighbours has managed to get a lot built on their land because their planning consultant knows every trick and loophole in the book!

 

[AmyMay]

I would have thought that the simplest and cheapest option would be to remove the stables and any mention of horses.

 

[Goldenstar]

The problem is they have mentioned them now.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Agree with others: get professional advice.

I live in a Conservation Area and we have similar problems here.

Ohh and when I say "professional advice" I mean a Planning Consultancy firm who have specific experience with agricultural/equine planning matters; your bog-standard house-agency "planning consultant" won't cut it I'm afraid, I know this because I'm in a planning appeal at the moment (not equine/agric - different story) and you deffo need expert advice if you hit a problem.

Good luck!

 

[Polos Mum]

Professional advice seems expensive up front but saves a lot of time in the long run.

Knowing how planners hate horses in some areas I'd have gone for 12 x 12 goat pens with individual doors plus a couple of 12 x 12 separate storage areas to see how that went down.
Tricky now you have let the cat out of the bag.

We had some old pig styes that had 3 failed planning applications to convert and then one specialist that told us it would be impossible.
Then we tried the local agricultural agent who seems to be able to get whatever they want - and they worked their magic and it's now all done. They did some odd things and we had to apply in stages - but we followed their advice to the T and it worked.

It's often who you know I think in planning as well as what you know. Sad but true.

 

[cjwchez]

Hi, I've just replied to your other thread and seen this one. In my experience, the council are really difficult about shelters etc. They said the field shelter I wanted to put up in my horses field would require a full planning permission request which is now a chargeable service. I didn't want to submit it at the price it was going to cost in the case that it might get rejected. The council seem to make it as hard as possible to get around putting one up.

The dimensions of the shelter I wanted to buy was 12ft x 12ft.

I advised I would move it as often as they required me to in order for it to be deemed "mobile."

The response I got was "given the size, it is unlikely to be regularly moved and therefore is considered as a permanent form of development. The ability to move the structure around the field does not remove the significance of its presence in planning terms. In addition, the structure is likely to involve bringing horse bedding and food to the land which changes the field use from just grazing."

I responded back putting her straight, stating that horse bedding would not be used as it is a shelter and not a stable. There would also be no food kept there either as there wouldn't be storage for it, the shelter was just 3 walls and a roof. Funnily enough, I never got a response back from her and that was the end of that

The planning officers don't seem to understand anything about horses or livestock.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Have a look at your local planning dept website and find the consultants that have got permission for things similar to yours. And don't mention horses!