How do we get planning approved

Birker2020

Birker2020

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 January 2021
Messages
10,549
Location
West Mids
Visit site
keekee said:
I’m not sure which is the appropriate category to put it under but how people manage to get their planning approved for a caravan or a lodge on Equestrian property or establishment…. We are looking to purchase some land which already has stables and has been change from agricultural to equestrian use we haven’t yet applied for planning but the few people we have spoken to have said we are unlikely to get it anyone in the know who could help us please
Click to expand...

My partner lived in a tied cottage on site at an equestrian centre; he was Head Groundsman, used to lock and unlock the buildings, patrol the grounds, lock up the car park gates, check there was no one still on the grounds riding, etc.

Eventually the riding club decided to sell the cottage he had lived in for the previous ten years to the hotel next door to generate income without giving much thought to my partners next living arrangement, they said they would get a lodge sorted for him which would be sited elsewhere on the site and asked him to shop round for 'something suitable' without an indication of budget. Meanwhile they applied for planning consent for a lodge.

Unfortunately the planning department refused the planning application for the lodge. There were various reasons cited, the main ones being the siting of the lodge, the fact it would have been visible from the public footpath and the fact that there was no demonstratable reason why someone had to live on site.

Getting planning permission for a workers dwelling is hard because significant documentary evidence needs to be compiled to show the planning authority that there is a clear need. This can hinge on the demonstration that it is vital to the success of the enterprise that a worker needs to be on site at all times.

We had to try to establish if there was a genuine need for someone to live on the holding seven days a week. A planning decision meant demonstrating that the viability and existence of the business would be threatened if he couldn't live on site. My partner was responsible for opening and locking up and security of the grounds by patrolling but the planning department argued that someone that lived within 'reach' could open and lock up and patrol. Also for things that went wrong during a show, like the hook ups not working or the roof blowing off the temporary stables during a bad storm, many, many different things that could occur during the course of shows, etc. There was a shop on site that my partner was responsible for checking in the event the alarm went off but again they said somebody living local could do all these things and didn't need to operate off site.

The riding club appointed a solicitor but when planning was refused and the decision went to appeal in front of an Independent Chair, it was refused a second time.

My partner ended up living in a caravan that the riding club bought for him but his employers didn't apply for planning and couldn't apply for retrospective some 18 months later when the Council said he would be evicted after two years due to it being on green belt land.

Eventually he moved in with family until he lost his job a year or so later. Best thing that could have happened as we actually have a life now and he is not ruled by his job and taken advantage of anymore. He was being called out at all hours, day and night by living on site.

But during the whole planning process it was an incredibly turbulent and distressing time for us both.
 
Last edited:
O

Orangehorse

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 November 2005
Messages
13,657
Visit site
Councils used to give pre-planning advice for free, now they have to charge everyone, which when you think that it is officer's time it is understandable. Councils are looking to make money where they can.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top