Building an arena. Planning Advice needed

[LMB2018]

We are in the process of building our own home and I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to build my own arena.

The arena we have planned is 30x60 which amounts to 1800m2. With the necessary post and rail fence.

Yesterday I put a pre-planning application in which the council have rejected starting that as it’s over 1000m2 it’s classed as a major development and want £1500 for the pre-planning process. Under the councils criteria a major development also covers 10 - 99 houses.

Does anyone have any experience of the planning process when building an arena? Does it constitute a major development or can it be done under household development which was my original application??

 

[Polos Mum]

In my recent experience with planning - put in small and then apply for amendments
Amendments go to a different (more lenient) department.

We have had 2 applications to convert pig stys flatly rejected, then got a different consultant who has done a basic application (passed) then added bits (passed) now back to what we originally wanted (passed) - madness but hey ho.

 

[PurBee]

What a pain. I expect they’re following the red tape to the letter with your case. Afterall it’s 1800m squared of ground development, not an actual building. (Unless youre applying for an undercover arena not just open-air?) But your size has got you lumped in with the ’building developers’ criteria.

As they’ve rejected it, it's unlikely without a different strategy, to have it approved. Can you go to a consultant? Appeal the decision if no actual building is being erected over the arena? Would agricultural planning route be more lenient?

Im just throwing out suggestions, PM’s post is a cheeky useful way around It!

 

[whiteflower]

We had ours done by a specialist equestrian planning person, took the stress away, they knew the pitfalls and issues and ours went through straight away. We were lucky but if it looks like you may have some issues it's worth getting someone who knows how the planning departments work involved. Good luck

 

[TheMule]

It's probably worth paying the money, or you could get pre-planning for a smaller arena and then submit an application for the size you want, but expect to have to justify why you want such a big arena

 

[rextherobber]

We had ours done by a specialist equestrian planning person, took the stress away, they knew the pitfalls and issues and ours went through straight away. We were lucky but if it looks like you may have some issues it's worth getting someone who knows how the planning departments work involved. Good luck

This. In spades.

 

[Tiddlypom]

We got PP for a 60m x 20m home use arena (1200 m²) passed without any hiccups. We got the PP application included as part of the arena build package by Charles Britton - they had a near 100% success record in getting planning approvals.

Worth getting an expert in.