Arena build - getting planning permission

Joeyjojo

Joeyjojo

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Hi,

I am hoping to get an arena installed at my house and know I will need to get planning permission for this. Can anyone give me some advice as to who they would recommend to get the planning documents drawn up? I am in South Bucks and was thinking of using an arena company that does the planning too, but even they want a lot of drawings from you, which I don't have.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to proceed?
 
You can do them yourself with some graph paper and a little bit of cribbing other drawings off the internet. I did this, and got PP no problem. You will need to provide a site plan to the precise scale they require though, so I did need to pay £30 to get one of those from the recommended mapping supplier on the planning portal. If you really don't want to do this, just google planning consultant or equine planning consultant and you will find someone who will do the drawings for you for a few hundred pounds.
 
I did my own - bought maps (i needed 6 x copies of 2 different scales), then printed off the application & took it to the local planning office for help. I made an appt to go thru it with them. It was v helpful - the planning app form (that I did) was the same one for an arena or a block of flats & there were loads of baffling questions re run-off & parking. So they basically told me which qs to answer, which to cross out & what to put. I was struggling by myself as some of the qs are very perplexing.

T x
 
Thanks to the wonder that is the internet you can just go on your council's portal and type in arena/manège/ménage as a keyword and you'll be able to find out what other people have submitted. Just 'reproduce' (note, not copy) a similar sort of thing. If it's a straightforward site you'll be fine. If you run into bat (are you having lights?)/newt/reptile issues you may need to employ an ecologist but the planning officer will advise once you've submitted your application. If it's a commercial enterprise then I would employ a planning consultant. Or if you're paranoid like me (because you work in planning and expect everything to end up at appeal or a refusal) then some arena builders will do the application for you, but it tends to be the big, expensive companies.

My only word of warning is once the planners say no it can be very tricky to change their minds. Work with them and be prepared to compromise to get a grant.
 
I had our arena company do the plans for us - I was quite confident that I could do a basic plan of the arena site, but the council wanted details of the level changes as well, which I wasn't confident doing. I don't understand why your arena company want drawings from you - surely they come out, survey the site, talk to you about your requirements, and draw the plan themselves? If they aren't willing to do that then perhaps look at what other companies can do the work for you?

As others have said, it is worth looking on your council's planning database for previous applications and see what reasons they have for any refusals, which will give you an idea of what to include/avoid in your application.
 
We went with Charles Britton for our arena build. They do the planning application as part of the package, so know all of the relevant angles to cover. It went very smoothly.

I'd previously spoken to an independent planning consultant, who made out that our application was going to be tricky. It sailed through with CB, and they also submitted plans (FOC) for a field shelter which we were sourcing from another company.

I do remember that we had to label every tree on our acreage on the site plan. Planners don't like trees or hedges to be upset or, heaven forfend, chopped down even if you promise to plant more elsewhere.
 
Tiddlypom said:
We went with Charles Britton for our arena build. They do the planning application as part of the package, so know all of the relevant angles to cover. It went very smoothly.

I'd previously spoken to an independent planning consultant, who made out that our application was going to be tricky. It sailed through with CB, and they also submitted plans (FOC) for a field shelter which we were sourcing from another company.

I do remember that we had to label every tree on our acreage on the site plan. Planners don't like trees or hedges to be upset or, heaven forfend, chopped down even if you promise to plant more elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I have a quote from them and was going to use them, but having just seen this bit I am slightly put off! We have a mix of woodland and pasture - I really don't think I can label up every single tree here! It'll take forever :)

I am wondering if a local planning consultant would be best - someone who can advise on the tree issue and tell us how to go about making an application that is likely to succeed. The major benefit of the tress is that no-one will be able to see the arena - even we won't see it from the house! So hopefully that will be a plus.

Thank you everyone for your replies.
 
We used Charles Britton too, they were very good and did everything for us. We had to move a hedge as our arena spanned 2 fields, someone from the council came out to see us about the hedge (christmas eve morning "we are still working madam" and I did not dare her away otherwise I was sure I would never see her again!) but it was passed first time. Since then I have found out that we have rare newts, luckily I did not know that at the time.
 
I suspect the tree labelling requirement came from the council, not the arena company! I must say we have a lot of trees on our property and didn't have to label any on the plans, despite one major oak tree being very close to the arena, and us being in an AONB. Different councils seem to have different priorities, hence the suggestion to check out the arena planning applications on your local council website.
 
TGM said:
I suspect the tree labelling requirement came from the council, not the arena company! I must say we have a lot of trees on our property and didn't have to label any on the plans, despite one major oak tree being very close to the arena, and us being in an AONB. Different councils seem to have different priorities, hence the suggestion to check out the arena planning applications on your local council website.
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Yes, the tree labelling will have been Council not CB. All Council's are different and may vary in their requirements. We also used CB and our planning sailed through. I wouldn't use them if you're in a rush though, they are often very busy!
 
Joeyjojo said:
I have a quote from them and was going to use them, but having just seen this bit I am slightly put off! We have a mix of woodland and pasture - I really don't think I can label up every single tree here! It'll take forever :).
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The tree labelling was a requirement of my local planners, not a weird Charles Britton question! CB really do know their stuff re getting planning for arenas, and the arena itself is top notch, too, as you'd expect.

We don't have woodland as such, but have a number of established trees in our hedgerow, which we labelled, plus all the garden trees - a weeping willow was just ok position wise, the planner paced the distance from the willow to the proposed arena site when he visited.

Planners can give you weird and wonderful hoops to jump through, the best thing is to jump through the hoops to keep them happy!
 
I used http://www.equestriandesign.co.uk/
They were worth what they cost as they got me exactly what I wanted in 8 weeks. The submission was so comprehensive that the council just passed it with one challenge back. The council asked for a coal survey and he got that knocked back, which saved me his fee!
 
To be honest, I think a planning consultant may be overkill unless you are in a very sensitive area. We are in an AONB, and the arena site was in view of about 10 houses, and one neighbour objected to the application, but we still got ours approved easily. If you are using a major arena company that works regularly in your area, then they should have a pretty shrewd idea of the council's requirements.
 
case895 said:
I used http://www.equestriandesign.co.uk/
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This is the company I spoke to before using CB. Very pleasant man, but he made out that my application was going to be tricky and expensive to get a 20m by 60m arena in the orientation I wanted.

The application breezed through with CB. We built a 20m by 40m arena as the pennies didn't stretch to a full size one, but can extend it at any time as the PP is for a 20m by 60m.
 
Tiddlypom said:
This is the company I spoke to before using CB. Very pleasant man, but he made out that my application was going to be tricky and expensive to get a 20m by 60m arena in the orientation I wanted.

The application breezed through with CB. We built a 20m by 40m arena as the pennies didn't stretch to a full size one, but can extend it at any time as the PP is for a 20m by 60m.
Click to expand...
Most planning consents give you just 3 years to start it. You might need to "start" the extra 20m (e.g. fence it) otherwise the consent will lapse for it.
 
case895 said:
Most planning consents give you just 3 years to start it. You might need to "start" the extra 20m (e.g. fence it) otherwise the consent will lapse for it.
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Thanks, but apparently because we have part built the arena, we are able to complete it (ie extend it to full size) without a time limit. There was a time limit on when the works had to start, though, but in practice it was started as soon as the PP came through :).
 
I've done it. 3 tips to help it go through a bit easier : 1 Title the application carefully, ensuring within the title you state it is for personal use only e.g manège for exercising own horses for personal use. Don't use either the words 'arena' or 'training' in the title as the council may associate these with business/commercial use. 2. Don't attempt to get permission for lights - do that separately AFTER the school is built. 3. Do LOTS of research into the surface. The council don't like surfaces which are likely to affect the environment like rubber, which leaches chemicals into the water table and is impossible to dispose of when it needs replacing
 
Thank you everyone :) I figured the tree thing was for the council, I just hadn't realised that when CB did the planning they required you to do most of the drawings (which seemed like half the battle!) that's why I was considering a planning consultant. Good to know that everyone was happy with them - I'll give them a call on Monday to discuss it a bit further.
 
It seems odd that CB require you to supply drawings (as opposed to commercially available maps). We used Bill Kear Arenas (not sure if they cover your area) and they just came out, did a survey and prepared plans. I didn't need to supply my own drawings.
 
tootsietoo said:
You can do them yourself with some graph paper and a little bit of cribbing other drawings off the internet. I did this, and got PP no problem. You will need to provide a site plan to the precise scale they require though, so I did need to pay £30 to get one of those from the recommended mapping supplier on the planning portal. If you really don't want to do this, just google planning consultant or equine planning consultant and you will find someone who will do the drawings for you for a few hundred pounds.
Click to expand...

I did my own too. They were very basic but got through planning without any quibble. I wasn't even that precise about where it was going i.e how far from boundary etc
 
CB did all the drawings for us, as I recall. We did give them all the info they needed though, such as maps with exact boundaries of our property and proposed site of the arena and field shelter. They then produced their own maps and drawings from those to use in the application.

The planning fee (payable to council) was £335 in 2011.
 
Ours was granted in December last year and CB did all of the drawings for us also. We only helped out with the odd query, like taking a screenshot of a map and drawing arrows in paint; nothing technical!
 
We have done a topo survey in prep for applying for planning, hopefully sometime this year. But the oh has all the kit at work so it was pretty easy. I think if it's on a slope you would need a similar survey doing.

I would doubt they would ask for an ecological survey for a manège unless one of the planners is married to a self employed one. Unless you're building right next to a pond or taking out a tree they're unlikely to care. If you need to remove any vegetation do it before the end of March to avoid the need for nesting bird surveys.
 
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