Planning permission for stables etc

AandK

AandK

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Has anyone on here done a planning application for permission to convert an existing barn to stables, and done all the work/forms/drawings themselves?

What I am looking at should be fairly simple, putting two 12x12 stables in an existing open fronted barn, which will take up 2/3 of it, the remaining 1/3 left for storage. The barn is in a paddock, not within the curtliage of the property, so will need planning for the stables. There would also be the addition of a concrete pad in front of the barn, with a tap and drainage. Also - stupid question - do you need planning to put up fencing in a field?

Thanks!
 
I did the planning for a new american barn in my field from scratch all drawings and forms. I also later did separate application for an arena (for which I had to send a photo of what 'post and rail' looked like!
The ease depends a lot on local council, I found mine easy and friendly and I ended up with a bigger building than I wanted because I'd assumed in my application they would try and negotiate. My friend less than 10 miles away in a different council had a nightmare.

Changing a barn internally I wouldn't imagine needing planning - is the land registered for agricultural or equestrian use?

Concrete pad will need permission

Fencing I don't believe so as it's not permanent
 
If you can (post virus) I would get the planning officer out to talk to them on site and explain what you want to do, they will give you advice on what they will and won't allow. It used to be free but I think they charge now - but £150 up front to then fill in the forms with words they like and setting things out in ways that comply with their requirements will be well worth it in the long run.
There's not necessarily any logic or common sense to each councils application of planning guidelines so guessing them is near on impossible.
 
PeterNatt said:
My advice would be to get a local planning consultant or a surveyor to do it for you as they will have a relationship with the planning officers within the planning department. Your biggest issue will be getting change of use from agricultural to equestrian.
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This. It's a bloody nightmare to do on your own - in theory it isn't difficult, but they make it so you wish you'd never started. Best money spent getting surveyor/consultant in.
 
I used a specialist equestrian planning consultant to get my American barn and school. Very detailed and I got exactly what we asked for.
 
Before you pick a planning consultant, have a look at your council's planning applications, find local equestrian applications that have been approved in the last 18 months and choose a planning consultant from one of the successful applications. You then have proof they know what they are doing and have dealt with the council recently and understand their requirements.

We appointed a planning consultant, she spouted all sorts of stuff about her success on equestrian applications, as we were in the middle of a house purchase, we discussed everything we wanted and she said to leave it all to her and as she was so convincing we did (hindsight is a wonderful thing). Thousands of pounds later, months of waiting, months of excuses, a further ecology survey costing £600 that we didnt actually need, it was rejected (rightly so!). It didnt fit with any of the council's requirements for equestrian development, was in block work when the council wanted wood, not positioned where we wanted it (she had turned it around to tuck it into the corner of the field and facing directly into the wind) and unbelievably, which still makes us scratch our heads today, she had all the stable doors opening inwards!!

An extremely expensive mistake as she was so convincing. Turned out she had zero experience of equestrian planning and wasted thousands of pounds.
 
Unless you're in a conservation area or you suspect there will be a lot of local resistance, there’s really no need to pay a consultant. It is easy to do the drawings yourself. I would recommend pre-planning advice just so you get any little wrinkles ironed out. I did mine for a shelter, hand standing and arena
 
A neighbour recently put up an American barn with room for 8 stables and hard standing for various vehicles. They applied for agricultural planning permission, the planning officer visited once it was all completed and was apparently quite happy with it all. Councils vary a lot and in that you are not altering the outside of the building I would be tempted to just do it. If they get difficult you could always borrow a few sheep for a bit.
 
We used the planning application service of the company that we were going to use for a block of 4 stables, tack room, hay shed & arena. It was rejected because they didn't do it properly & they then didn't understand WHY it had been rejected or what to do about it. Gave up, did it ourselves (unbelievably complicated - sooooooo many forms where you think, WTF does that even mean...?), got it mostly through apart from some planning conditions, then every time I thought we'd done all the forms, we got another form that made f-all sense. Gave in & hired a consultant who had previously worked for the same planning dept for 25 years, who knew exactly what was utter b*ll*x and what wasn't & made it all go away. We are now waiting for our mitigation strategy to be approved. We should have heard from the bl**dy council a month ago, so we have contacted the planning consultant again to chase it as tbh I just can't face it.
 
I did the site plans myself. In theory they are dead simple but I was so scared to get them wrong. But I managed it after a lot of stressing. The stable company produced to drawings of the actual stables there's no way I could have done those as you need to provide elevations as well as plans. If there's s a next time I will let professionals do the whole lot.
 
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