A CHANGE to planning law which frees up farmers and landowners to provide more camping pitches could offer a lifeline to struggling rural communities, according to Pitchup.com.

In a landmark decision laid before Parliament* on 5th July, the Westminster government has extended Permitted Development Rights (PDR) from 28 days per year to 60 days across England.

The move means farmers and landowners can now run pop-up sites for tents, campervans and motorhomes for up to 60 days per year without needing to apply for extra planning permission, providing they operate no more than 50 pitches, they provide toilet and waste disposal facilities, and they notify their local authority before the season starts**.

To accept tents for more than 42 consecutive days, a camping licence would still be required. A caravan site licence is likely to be required to accept motorhomes or campervans***.

To qualify, sites must also not be in the curtilage of a listed building, on an SSSI or scheduled monument, in a safety hazard area or in an area where military explosives are stored. 

Dan Yates, founder of Pitchup.com, hailed the move and a ‘gigantic shot in the arm’ for rural communities in England.

It comes after an extensive government consultation on the issue, which followed a lobbying campaign led by Pitchup.com to have PDR extended.

Mr Yates said: “Extending PDR has been proven to generate millions of pounds for rural communities.

“When the government first did this, between the COVID lockdowns, it doubled PDR from 28 days to 56 days per year to help rural communities recover from the pandemic, and to provide more accommodation so people could holiday in the countryside.

“Our figures demonstrated this lead to an extra £25m being directly injected into the rural economy in 2021 alone, with the money being evenly distributed between campsite operators and local pubs, shops, restaurants and businesses.

“Despite this, the government decided to revert to 28 days on December 31^st, 2021, making many pop-up agritourism diversification projects unprofitable. We had seen first hand what a difference the extended PDR had made to individual farmers and rural communities and were vocal about the fact we felt this was the wrong decision. So, we’ve been lobbying the government to reverse it ever since.”

Mr Yates added that despite the fact the decision to return to 28 days should never have been taken, he nonetheless welcomed the new, permanent extension with open arms.

“The fact the government has seen sense and extended PDR in England is absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“It goes to show they’ve listened – to farmers, to rural communities, to bodies such as the CLA, and to ourselves.

“As we saw, the previous temporary extension generated millions of pounds within a single year. A permanent extension will have a far greater impact, leading to genuine, long term prosperity for farms and rural communities.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time. Farmers are facing huge uncertainties about how their industry will be financed in the future and what they’ll have to do to make farming businesses sustainable. Rural communities are often hit hardest by the cost of living crisis due lower than average wages and increases in fuel and energy costs.

“The extension to PDR will have a real-world impact on issues like this, leading to happier, healthier, and more prosperous rural communities. We are delighted the government has finally decided to do it.”