Topic: Do allotments need planning permission ?

[picman]

I don't want to go into to much detail, I was interested as to what other sites had experienced with Polytunnels, or club houses with regard to their  planning office, looking at various reports seems its a bit of a foggy area. 

[manicscousers]

We were told we needed planning permission for polytunnels in wigan, even though the normal is for large ones. We sent lots of documents supporting our case but lost. We were granted temporary(5 yr) planning permission then have to re apply at 80.00 per tunnel  :o
NSALG say they will get involved when the 5 years are up  :)

[picman]

Thanks Manic ...We have 2 4x14m polys no planning permission ! 

[Tee Gee]

We need planning permission on our plots for huts, greenhouses & poly tunnels although they do tend to turn a blind eye to huts & greenhouses!

[Trevor_D]

Do you mean official planning permission from the planning department, costing several hundred pounds, or merely written consent from the powers-that-be?

When we installed our composting toilet last year, our local authority planning department said that we didn't need planning permission as we were classed as horticultural land. I'm not sure if council allotments are similarly classed - and we do have two smallholdings as part of our site.

But a landlord - which is what the council is - can insist on permission being asked for and granted. Our lease has a clause which insists that no building may be erected without the permission of our landlord, the local church charity. In practice, they have passed this on to the committee and they simply rubber-stamp it; but anyone who wants to put anything up must apply in writing so that it can be minuted.

[taurus]

We need permission from the Allotments officer (council run sites).  Small sheds/greenhouses/poly tunnels are OK.  I think they work it on the size of your plot.  The problem in the past is when folk start of with 2/3 chickens in a small pen and then it grows to the plot covered with just chucks and no room to grow veg etc.  ;D ::) :o

[manicscousers]

Our permission as for fencing which was 8' tall, plus someone 'told' on us about the polytunnels so we had to include them. The pp cost 220.00 and we had to paint the fence green. This borders 5 rugby fields and is nowhere near a house

[Robert_Brenchley]

We need permission from the Allotments Department for polytunnels, and there's a size limit. When it came to rebuildoing a ruined brick shed, thee was a lot of umming and erring and changing of minds, and eventually they decided we needed planning permission. Which we got.

[picman]

Thanks all , So the answer is ... whatever you can get away with . ( yes I meant full plans and £200+ planning permission)
Next Qs.
Are allotments  horticultural land then ?
Why is it different for each council, do they make it up as the go along ?
Why do we pay a council officer to sit at a desk to hand out permissions for a shed / hut ....




 

[manicscousers]

Why is it different for each council, do they make it up as the go along ?


Ours does  ;D

[Unwashed]

Are allotments  horticultural land then ?

It depends.  For example, Crowborough Parish Council v. Secretary of State for the Environment [1981] established that allotments are included in the definition of agriculture for the purposes of S55(2)(e) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 with the consequence that planning permission is not required to create a new allotment site whatever the land was used for previously because agriculture isn't development, but allotments do not enjoy the permitted development rights given to agricultural holdings by Class B, Part 6, schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 1995 because agricultural land here is defined as land in use for agriculture and which is so used for the purposes of a trade or business.

Why do you ask?

[picman]

Unwashed, thanks for the detailed explanation, we are embroiled in a planning issue at the moment,  just trying to understand the rules .

I guess this is why our council class allotments in with leisure not Horticulture / agriculture as in my view it should be.

[Unwashed]

I guess this is why our council class allotments in with leisure not Horticulture / agriculture as in my view it should be.

Why are you arguing that allotments are horticulture?  What development are you proposing?

The questions the planning department will be asking are 1. is what you're proposing development?, and if so 2. does that development have deemed consent or is it covered by permitted development rights?

I have a feeling that planners have some latitude in deciding what is and isn't development and they generally just take a sensible view on allotment sheds, greenhouses, and polytunnels because they're small and temporary and part of the usual allotment furniture they don't consider them to be development.  There may well be situations where they would not necessarily take that view, and in general allotments don't have any deemed consents or permitted development rights.  One interesting exception is that ancilliary developments by councils have deemed consent, so for example a council wouldn't need planning permission for a container to store their grounds maintenance equipment, but that wouldn't extend to a self-managing committee's developments.

As always, this is just my take on the situation and I don't have any actual experience of the planning system so I'm happy to be shown to be wrong.