Building a farm cottage

I was wondering if many people have had experience building on farm land and have any words of wisdom to impart?
We live in a National Park where it is notoriously difficult to get planning permission.

Is worth attempting to get an agricultural tye? Or is this a never ending cycle of getting more livestock to justify one.

Do we have more chance of gaining planning permission if the new build is a retirement cottage (for the in-laws) or if we build it for ourselves as a family home?

 

[George from SJM Planning]

I was wondering if many people have had experience building on farm land and have any words of wisdom to impart?
We live in a National Park where it is notoriously difficult to get planning permission.

Is worth attempting to get an agricultural tye? Or is this a never ending cycle of getting more livestock to justify one.

Do we have more chance of gaining planning permission if the new build is a retirement cottage (for the in-laws) or if we build it for ourselves as a family home?

Wearing my non-farming hat (and wearing my planning consultant one) I would say solely based on the limited information provided, you would have great difficulty getting a new farm cottage irrespective of its ties and uses.

The main issue is that new dwellings in the countryside are the most difficult developments to get passed and being in a national park just compounds the issues.
The need would need to be so dire, to the point that the farm could not exist under any circumstances without the dwelling and that there was no other properties of a similar size available on the market within say a 15 mile radius (acceptable commuting distance).
Am I right in thinking that there is already a dwelling on the farm? If so, I think your best bet would be to look at an annexe to the main dwelling citing the need for more appropriate accomodation for your in-laws. This would have to be a modest building that would not be fully independent to the 'host' dwelling, usually they only have small kitchenettes or just a small wet room.

If you want any more specific help please feel free to PM me or email [email protected]

 

[ginger007]

@GeorgieB82 Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it, even if it is a little disheartening!

There is currently a large farmhouse on site where the in-laws live. We rent a small cottage half a mile away. We live in a hamlet 7 miles from the nearest town with the cheapest property for sale in the local area starting from around £300K (completely unaffordable for msyself and self employed farmer partner).
Does planning permission take into account my income as (unmarried) partner of the farmer's son?
The next farm over have managed to build their own large house although I don't know how they managed this. I think they were living on site in a static for many years. There does seem to be a few building projects going on in the local area however these seem to be holiday cottages.

 

[George from SJM Planning]

@GeorgieB82 Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it, even if it is a little disheartening!

There is currently a large farmhouse on site where the in-laws live. We rent a small cottage half a mile away. We live in a hamlet 7 miles from the nearest town with the cheapest property for sale in the local area starting from around £300K (completely unaffordable for msyself and self employed farmer partner).
Does planning permission take into account my income as (unmarried) partner of the farmer's son?
The next farm over have managed to build their own large house although I don't know how they managed this. I think they were living on site in a static for many years. There does seem to be a few building projects going on in the local area however these seem to be holiday cottages.

Disheartening it may be, but by me giving you the 'heads up', hopefully it will help you avoid a lot of the pitfalls you might have fallen foul of in the future.

My advice would be to look at the councils online planning history at the other properties you mention and see how and why they were approved (the document you really want to read is the officers delegated report) and if they had a battle. But make sure they are covered by the same policies your site is (National Park, Outside of the Built Environment etc etc).

As there is a large farmhouse already on site I would suggest that an AOC tied development would be deemed unnecessary and unfortunately individual circumstances are not taken into account as planning permission is for the property, not the applicant. The council have to look at it as a worst case scenario is that if they allowed you to build a new dwelling based on your personal circumstances; they can not stop you selling up a day later.

I don't think the retiring in-laws argument will have much traction either, unfortunately I can see the councils response being "Well, you let your in-laws have your rented cottage and you have the farmhouse" as they will be retired and won't need to live on the farm. The council will see the farm house as suitable provision for someone to live on the farm for farming needs.

It is a bleak picture unfortunately, and the National Park makes it so much more difficult as you don't have the PD conversion of a farm building as a back-up plan.

Have you looked into having a static on-site on a 3 year temporary with a view to making it a permanent permission and then applying to convert to a house down the line. Not sure what effect the National Park would have on this route though.

 

[ginger007]

@GeorgieB82 Wow, thank you for such a detailed and thorough response!
I have a lot to chew on, I shall start by looking up the council's planning history, as you suggest.
It's rather frustrating as I'd rather avoid living with the in-laws.
Thank you so much

 

[George from SJM Planning]

@GeorgieB82 Wow, thank you for such a detailed and thorough response!
I have a lot to chew on, I shall start by looking up the council's planning history, as you suggest.
It's rather frustrating as I'd rather avoid living with the in-laws.
Thank you so much

I hope you find an alternative but planning policy is there to protect our country not our sanity! I am sure since becoming a planning consultant my life expectancy has significantly reduced!

 

[Chickcatcher]

Why not look at permissive development of a "redundant" building.

 

[George from SJM Planning]

Why not look at permissive development of a "redundant" building.

The OP is in a National Park so PD rights are severely restricted. Development under Class Q cannot be undertaken in a National Park

 

[gatepost]

As Above, we managed to build in a ANOB, but with an ag tie, Do some research so you have a list of similar developments passed by the council in the area, and contrary to popular opinion! have a talk to the planning officer, always best to have them onside if you can, in a lot of cases the decisions are made by individual officers, but maybe not in a national park. good luck just get your toe in with something fairly small.

 

[Chris123]

Quite a few round here seem to be getting joy with the base of the application being that you are moving close to parents/inlaws to be able to support them in there old age. Councils seem to like this idea as potentially takes the burden of care off them in future.
Most of the applications in rural areas I have seen along these lines have been barn conversions.
Good luck