New agricultural dwellings in England: a guide to policy and procedure

This business guide is a general overview about how to obtain planning permission for new agricultural or rural workers’ dwellings to support your farm business in England.

There are separate business guides available for:

• Converting redundant agricultural business to residential use in England; and

• New agricultural dwellings in Wales.

This guide does not specifically cover other forms of rural housing development and is not a comprehensive guide to planning law and policy. It is always recommended that you seek professional advice before developing any scheme for planning and preferably get written pre-application advice from your local planning authority.

Please bear in mind that you will be responsible for ensuring that development meets the statutory requirements of the town planning legislation and any other consents that may be necessary, for example Building Regulations. Please also be aware that there can be severe financial and criminal implications for carrying out development without planning permission.

Local planning authorities can be reluctant to grant permission for a new dwelling on farm, as it would usually be in open countryside, where the planning system seeks to restrict housing. It is best to expect to have to prepare a convincing case and be flexible in your requirements if you can.

In this guide the term “rural dwellings” includes workers both in agriculture as well as forestry.