News and Issues

Most farm diversifications will require planning permission from the local planning authority. The application will be improved by providing further information than that given in the planning application form, to put the development into the context of the farm business as a whole. This will explain the need for the project, and the environmental and social safeguards that would be put in place. NRBAS has prepared a format for a Farm Development Plan that can be submitted with a planning application. The Plan and a guide to its preparation can be downloaded from this site.

Making a Planning Application

Most farm diversifications will require planning permission from the local planning authority, generally the District Council within which the diversification is happening, but also including a national park authority if that is where the development is located.

Defra and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) published a comprehensive guide to the planning system in 2002. Since then, some aspects of the system have changed – principally the gradual replacement of Local Plans by Local Development Frameworks – but most of the procedures that applicants must go through remain the same. There has been no indication as to whether the Department of Communities and Local Government, which now has responsibility for planning, will revise and reprint the document. However, the original Farmers Guide to the Planning System is still available on the Defra web site (http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/environment/land-use/index.htm) and may be downloaded using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The Farmers Guide suggested that the planning authority would appreciate further information than that given in the planning application form, to put the development into the context of the farm business as a whole, explaining the need for the project and environmental and social safeguards that would be put in place. To help farmers with this, NRBAS has compiled a document to accompany the Farmers Guide to the Planning System, which describes an approach to preparing a Farm Development Plan that can be submitted with a planning application. This is entitled Improving Your Planning Application – a Farmers Guide and may be downloaded here. A worksheet to complete a Farm Development programme may be downloaded here.

NRBAS will be pleased to discuss diversification projects at any stage.

Useful Links

   - Farmer's Guide to the Planning System

Useful Documents

   - Farm Planning Guidance