28 day camping rule

[gta123]

We have a camping and CL site. Makes about £700 a week when its full and apart from the costs of adding a toilet/shower block and putting water taps and electric hook ups in its a fairly straight forward investment. Obviously the right planning permits are required and marketing is essential but it would make a return in under 5 years which is the most important thing.

 

[Pasty]

We have a camping and CL site. Makes about £700 a week when its full and apart from the costs of adding a toilet/shower block and putting water taps and electric hook ups in its a fairly straight forward investment. Obviously the right planning permits are required and marketing is essential but it would make a return in under 5 years which is the most important thing.

Thanks. How many pitches is that roughly and how long do you open?

 

[gta123]

Thanks. How many pitches is that roughly and how long do you open?

We are open all year round, I'm not sure if a new business is allowed to do that. I know the business has been around for over 50 years so we are excluded from having the 11 month rule with our holiday cottages. Holiday times our always full for us. Over the winter time although we will still get the odd person come down we make money from offering caravan storage in one of our sheds which we used to have for our beef cattle but we don't have any cattle anymore just horses and sheep. We have 5 pitches on one field and 2 on another and charge £15 a night so that's £735 pretty much for 6 months of the year and then we charge £250 for storage and have 12 caravans.

 

[Pasty]

Cheers. £15 seems good value compared to what we've paid in the past.

 

[Barleycorn]

We went to a beachside campsite near Padstow last year and it was £40 a night!
Lovely spot though right above the beach, only stayed two nights.
Thats the worst thing about campsites they always claim to be near a beach or harbour, when you look them up, and when you get there it's a two mile hike!

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

The 28 day rule is very vague and to me that means just crack on and by the time they are on to you, it's over. I've been involved in planning for many years but haven't come across this one. I would suggest that most planning departments are so stretched at the moment that as long as you didn't go over 28 days, it would be at the bottom of the pile.

Don't you kid yersel, the local pikeys have started an illegal scrapyard at the bottom of my paddock, oh they've had visits from the council and the enforcement agencies but they make fools of them simply by the vagueness of who actually owns the land.
I on the other hand have been chased relentlessly for a couple of months recently owing to an allegation that I had started a livery business with on site accommodation.
They, the planning lot, prefer easy targets it would seem.

 

[honeyend]

I thought the 28days, from what I have looked at on local council web sites is from set up to take down, but I suppose what you can do depends on how close you are to the neighbours.
I have smallholders insurance that covers me for so many pitchs and we were thinking of doing it as we had a tiolet and shower cabin left over from the house build.
My parents had a CC site, which was used all year. I think you either do it well and spend a fair amount of money or it ends up a bit of a mess. I decided in the end to try Airbnb, as everything was already there in the house. I now have a lodger which is even less work, and non-taxable.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Don't you kid yersel, the local pikeys have started an illegal scrapyard at the bottom of my paddock, oh they've had visits from the council and the enforcement agencies but they make fools of them simply by the vagueness of who actually owns the land.
I on the other hand have been chased relentlessly for a couple of months recently owing to an allegation that I had started a livery business with on site accommodation.
They, the planning lot, prefer easy targets it would seem.

Once upon a time an alternative tools shopkeeper in a little town called Princes Risborough sold a paddock to the travelling fraternity. This caused much chaos, pain and heartache to all those whose gardens backed onto said piece of land. When folk found out about the land deal they started a boycott of the shop which is now closed.

Firstly the amount of hardcore being hauled and tipped should have caused some alarm bells to ring in the local District Council offices but nothing was done for some years as the legal situation kicked in with 'ooman rights and all that malarky being mentioned.

From memory it took nearly a decade for the situation to get to the point where the occupiers were eventually evicted. Unfortunately the 200 or so tons of road-planings will never be removed but the land is now clear........for now.......
The Council can and will find the owners of the land as it will be in the Land Registry files, but they the Council, are really not fit for purpose in this situation! They may be more up to speed now though!
I have a friend who lives 600 metres from the boundary so often received updates on what was 'appening.

Another friend has just won a court case over 'misrepresentation' regarding a supposed campsite they bought in good faith. So a warning to y'all who wish to get into this, to poke your lawyer with a very sharp stick indeed on real and actual permissions to operate beyond the 28 day rule!
'Tis a dodgy world I believe, as it's simply too easy to have a few folk pitch a tent or draw up with a camper-van/caravan. £'s only mate!

SS

 

[Breakthru]

In such situations it is very good agricultural practice to apply 100t/ha of pig slurry, or even human crap. By the time the kids and dogs have trailed it back to the caravans they are on their way. 4.30am in the morning at first light is the ideal time for such an agriculturally desirable application.

 

[Bootneck]

I do a very simple glamping site using the 28 day rule. 3 lotus Bell tents, composting loo in an old sheep trailer, gas powered shower and washing up sink area in a lean to shed. It's definitely not high end glamping but we get the bookings. Mostly families with young kids, I get them to help me feed the pigs and collect eggs in the morning and they all love it. First few years we were very careful about the 28 days but you can push it a bit if you're in a secluded spot and do t have annoying neighbours.

 

[PhilF]

Bootneck - with the 28 day rule did you have to register in any way with your council. We ran a field for the Tour de France a few years back and had to go through some sort of process - it wasn't onerous but we needed to do this to alert the council as to what was happening.

This time around I've tried to get some sort of guidance on this from the council as we've moved and are thinking of doing something more long term but after a month of phone calls and emails am getting no response. I'm guessing that this is either because they're busy, incompetent or it's not relevant but I can't believe you can just crack on without notifiying anyone - we want to use this for camping for occasional local events but one interpretation of the 28 day rule means that anything goes and surely the powers that be wouldn't want that?

 

[Bootneck]

The first year we notified the council via email giving dates that we would be operating, but did not hear anything back. Since then (3 years) we have just gone ahead without any notification.

 

[Still Farming]

Anyone do this under PD for planning? We are considering it next year. Just 10-20 tent pitches and 1 or 2 hired shower / toilet blocks. We have a stunning farm and could also pen up some goats and chickens etc. This is probably a pre-cursor to a proper glamping set up but want to test the water on a budget first.

Does anyone do a pop up campsite like this and if so, how does it go? I've also heard you can move the site and get another 28 days in a different field. How far can you push this?

20 pitches at £15 a night for a month would be a nice little bonus. Just wondering how much of a nightmare it is. I would rather go high end with pods / cabins and fewer numbers but that will take a few years to set up I would have thought. We would like to have a farm walk, woodland walk and let them see all the animals I haven't yet got. Then flog them some meat, veg and eggs while they are here and as they leave.

Think Caravan and camping club lot only pay £5 night at best?

 

[PhilF]

Thanks for Bootneck. Amazingly today, finally had a reply from the council. They said there is no process for the 28 day rule but that we should contact Environmental Health as they 'may' have their own procedures (!) Bit reluctant to do this - have you had any experience of this side of things?

 

[Bootneck]

Nope, I wasn't told to get in touch with environmental health, and I don't want to! Not that I'm doing anything wrong, it's all very eco friendly etc, but In my view the less the council gets involved the better. As long as its a smallish campsite, not hosting raves and stuff, I think they have more important things to worry about.

 

[Pitchup.com]

Have you heard that the 28 day permitted development rules have been extended? Landowners in England have now been given the green light to accept tents, without planning permission, for 56 days per calendar year until 31 December 2021.

It's a good option for new farm sites to test the waters before applying for planning permission or applying to be part of an exempt organisation, and last year farms earned up to £50,000 on our site in their first month.

Also on the point about Caravan and Camping Club certification, we urge people to read the finer details before choosing an exempt organisation and look at how their rules may affect your bookings.

For example, as a C&CC Certificated Site, you are not allowed to advertise on third-party websites and you won’t be available to book online on the C&CC website. Since 83% of UK holidays are booked online, if you do not offer the option to book on your own website you may be missing out on a large portion of the market. Freedom Camping Club and The Greener Camper Club are good alternative options, since they don’t limit where you can generate bookings and allow for more tents. Holidaymakers can also join either free or charge or very cheaply (£10).

We’ve got a bit more information on the planning exemptions and exempt organisations here if you’re interested: https://www.pitchup.com/how-start-campsite-caravan-park/