Selfsufficientish.com

not sure if this is the right place to post this... but we are trying to buy a place at the mo, it has 2 fields...lovely. I have visions of tree planting, veg patches.. chickens.. pigs maybe when I get brave.... you know the sort of thing..

but do I have to get permission to change the use of the land from ah.. grazing to .... ah... other things...? I'm not planning on building.. just providing for me and mine... are there rules about this stuff?

I asked about this and the answer I got is that if you're changing it from one agricultural use to another e.g. from pasture to arable, then the planning office don't care. What you're not allowed to do is change it from e.g. agricultural to residential. If you want to build anything on it at all e.g. a cow shed or henhouse then you'll need planning permission. I think sometimes people hear "you need planning permission" and think "that means I can't do it" but it doesn't mean that at all. If it's a resonable thing to do then the permission will probably be granted.

You need planning permission for change of use from agricultural to garden; how they woudl define garden, though, I'm not sure. Growing veg and fruit may not count as "a garden" as such. I would ahve a word with the planning dept before you start, theya re usually quite helpful if approached first, in my experience.

You need planning permission for change of use from agricultural to garden; how they woudl define garden, though, I'm not sure.

I asked about that as well. It seemed quite vague. If it looks like a garden, with lawns and flowerbeds and patio furniture, then it's a garden. Actually I found it quite heartening that the answer was so vague. If there was a list of requirements with numbers of permitted petunias per square metre or something that would have been much more depressing.

always consult your local authority (afterall they are there to help), you never know what future plans are for the area. planning permission could be turned down and you'll be left with just grazing land. Authorities could view this as a chance to build houses going through the back door even though your intentions are good, so get to know them.
different authorities have various rules. near a yard i worked at, a family brought half an acre of pasture and planted an orchard. it had to be dug up and returned to pasture. not sure why, maybe something to do with the type of land.
contacting defra could be useful if any information is vague

well i phoned the council (with some fear as we have really fallen for this place) and planning bod told me that so long as we were not putting up any sheds etc, the change from grazing to anything that could be described as agriculture (she said this included livestock horticulture, forestry) would not need permission. So pretty much as Chickpea said :)



yay!