Hi
I wonder if anyone can offer any advice or has had a similar experience to us. We moved to our farm in 2021 and are active farmers on our holding in Pembrokeshire: sheep, cattle, haymaking, and a new horticultural enterprise growing soft fruit. When we bought the farm, we knew that we had an acquired Right of Way to use the track to the farm - effectively an easement. Shortly after moving in, we set up a very small campsite (3 pitches) to diversify our agricultural activities. As we set up through an exemption organisation - the Greener Camping Club - we didn’t need planning and the whole thing was set up by them using Permitted Development. All the structures have to be temporary and moveable. Our intended operating season was May to September.
We announced our plans to neighbours but we didn’t discuss the Right of Way with the neighbour who owns the land that the track goes over - mainly because our solicitor said we should never discuss the track! We thought they’d be aware that the track was on their deeds but it turns out they weren’t. So there was no official complaint made at the time. So we started to welcome campers for the best part of 2 seasons. Last season we had 13 visitors in total - so it’s hardly a big operation.
This Spring, however, the neighbour realised that they own the track. They first of all asked us to remove the sign to our property, which is effectively on their land. This we did. We then received a letter stating that, although they do not have a problem with us having a small campsite, they will not allow campers to drive down “their” track - period. This was due, so they said, to the increased traffic driving past their house. They do not have a problem with walkers, cyclists or people arriving on horseback!
The technical issue here is that the track has been used for 100+ years for agricultural purposes. So there is no threat to our continued use. It could be construed, however, that campsite visitors have not been part of this historic use. My argument is that we are simply adding an element to our agricultural business - as many farms are. The fields are still used for agriculture. If we were setting up a golf club or holiday resort, I would understand that this would be a change of use.
Have I got a point or not? Ignoring their complaint is not really an option as they are confrontational people and we don’t want to ruin someone’s holiday with an argument at the end of the track!
Any thoughts, advice, feedback, similar experiences would be great. We've had an initial chat with a solicitor but they want to charge us £700 just to do some initial digging. Couple of other points: we maintain the track and the neighbour does not use the track to access their land - it simply runs between 2 of their fields. It's also a bridleway.
Thanks
I wonder if anyone can offer any advice or has had a similar experience to us. We moved to our farm in 2021 and are active farmers on our holding in Pembrokeshire: sheep, cattle, haymaking, and a new horticultural enterprise growing soft fruit. When we bought the farm, we knew that we had an acquired Right of Way to use the track to the farm - effectively an easement. Shortly after moving in, we set up a very small campsite (3 pitches) to diversify our agricultural activities. As we set up through an exemption organisation - the Greener Camping Club - we didn’t need planning and the whole thing was set up by them using Permitted Development. All the structures have to be temporary and moveable. Our intended operating season was May to September.
We announced our plans to neighbours but we didn’t discuss the Right of Way with the neighbour who owns the land that the track goes over - mainly because our solicitor said we should never discuss the track! We thought they’d be aware that the track was on their deeds but it turns out they weren’t. So there was no official complaint made at the time. So we started to welcome campers for the best part of 2 seasons. Last season we had 13 visitors in total - so it’s hardly a big operation.
This Spring, however, the neighbour realised that they own the track. They first of all asked us to remove the sign to our property, which is effectively on their land. This we did. We then received a letter stating that, although they do not have a problem with us having a small campsite, they will not allow campers to drive down “their” track - period. This was due, so they said, to the increased traffic driving past their house. They do not have a problem with walkers, cyclists or people arriving on horseback!
The technical issue here is that the track has been used for 100+ years for agricultural purposes. So there is no threat to our continued use. It could be construed, however, that campsite visitors have not been part of this historic use. My argument is that we are simply adding an element to our agricultural business - as many farms are. The fields are still used for agriculture. If we were setting up a golf club or holiday resort, I would understand that this would be a change of use.
Have I got a point or not? Ignoring their complaint is not really an option as they are confrontational people and we don’t want to ruin someone’s holiday with an argument at the end of the track!
Any thoughts, advice, feedback, similar experiences would be great. We've had an initial chat with a solicitor but they want to charge us £700 just to do some initial digging. Couple of other points: we maintain the track and the neighbour does not use the track to access their land - it simply runs between 2 of their fields. It's also a bridleway.
Thanks
