Polytunnel planning permission

[JennieAtkinson]

OK I'll have to come clean here. I'm a planning officer. I know but some of us have to do it!

Well Sam, can't really help you as I only work with Scottish legislation which amazingly is different to England! We work on floor area, not cubic area. But you hit the nail on the head when you said there was a difference between whether it was attached to/or within 5m from the house. (Who writes these b****y rules which we have to enforce!). Certainly in Scotland if you locate your polytunnel, or shed, or anything else which is " incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse" (again its not us who write these words!) more than 5 metres from the house, you can build quite a big structure without planning permission provided you meet certain other regulations (distance from road, boundary etc., height not over 3m) (Conservation Areas (another headache!)

I like to think we are a planning office that actually helps people and many times I will tell people that if they locate it "here" then they don't need permission, but I do understand that others arent quite so helpful.

All I can say is Good Luck Sam!

[nick the grief]

OK I'll have to come clean here. I'm a planning officer. I know but some of us have to do it!

Well Sam, can't really help you as I only work with Scottish legislation which amazingly is different to England! We work on floor area, not cubic area. But you hit the nail on the head when you said there was a difference between whether it was attached to/or within 5m from the house. (Who writes these b****y rules which we have to enforce!). Certainly in Scotland if you locate your polytunnel, or shed, or anything else which is " incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse" (again its not us who write these words!) you can build quite a big structure without planning permission provided you meet certain other regulations (distance from road, boundary etc., height not over 3m) (Conservation Areas (another headache!)

I like to think we are a planning office that actually helps people and many times I will tell people that if they locate it "here" then they don't need permission, but I do understand that others arent quite so helpful.

All I can say is Good Luck Sam!

could be worse JA - you could be Inland Revenue

[JennieAtkinson]

Oh thanks Nick!

I was having to do a cut and paste job last night as my computer kept crashing. But meant to say also, that if you do have to visit a planning officer for advice, try and have some firm details, size, location, measurements from boundary etc. It is very difficult for us to give advice on a hypotethical situation or vague details. I am sure that many of the problems with regard to the way we are perceived is down to trying to give advice when people haven't firmed up what they really want to do - a recipe for misinformation! Given that we still work with legislation based on the 1947 Act, when polytunnels, satellite dishes and the like were not even dreamt about, sometimes it is difficult coming to a conclusion. Hopefully the planning shake ups in Scotland and England will sort some of this out - mind you having looked at some of the ideas I'm not so sure. But I'll be retired then!

[sam]

he he, Nick. Yep, I'm a woman. It's Samantha really. (Really isn't my surname. That would be plain silly). I should have chosen a more original user name but, erm, couldn't think of one.

Jennie, you're absolutely right about being specific with sizes, placing, use etc. I was as specific as I could be when describing our tunnel to them it's just because they're only now becoming more popular domestically, I don't think this particular planning officer was very au fait with the regs. But at least she researched it for me and called me back. And I'm also very pleased that I did call them (only cos it's worked in my favour) because now if the neighbours have a whinge, I can say I'm within my rights and not have to worry about repercussions. Anyway, if the neighbours play their cards right, they can have some nice veg! They probably won't even comment though.

And Nick, a trip to Ryton is definitely on the cards soon. In fact, I drive past it every Wednesday and gaze longingly with no time to call in. But I shall go soon and thanks for the tip-off for the book. I'll look out for it. And as far as the teen/girls thing goes, well my oldest is already at that stage but the younger two are still happy to get muddy.

Sam xx

[filthyrich]

sam great news glad it has all worked out ok!the reccomendation for the book sounds useful,might buy one !

[Snadger]

could be worse JA - you could be Inland Revenue

Or worse still...a Traffic Warden.........

[pigletwillie]

Its quite strange what you can actually build without permission or even building regs.

When we had our extension build I enquired to the building regs guy about building a double garage at the end of the garden as we have shared drive there and it transpired as it was x distance from the house and y distance from a public highway, not over 5 m high and built mainly from non combustable materials and 35m" floor area or less it didnt need any interferance from the council at all. The upshot being myself and 2 neighbours all built fabulous workshops.

[JennieAtkinson]

Glad it all worked out ok for you Sam. Good luck!

[nick the grief]

Hi Sam,

not very good at sexing grapes i'm afraid I once referred to Jaxom as a lady ...he took it in good part though

Not very good with cats either I took our tom cat to get the same treatment as me to be told they couldn't fdo it as she was pregnant

In the summer it's worth a trip to Ryton & have look around the gardens there you can get loads of ideas & they grew some really tasty peas in the big greenhouse .... err... so I'm told - I never ate any honest

If you go in January you can get you seed tatties at the potato day

[fred6]

When approaching planners one should always go armed with knowledge of the law. "The General Development Order" contains all relevant information of what you are permitted to do without planning permission. Regarding gardens, it says that the householder can do "anything that is necessary for the enjoyment of the occupants" and that is in the subjective opinion of the householder, not that of the planners. Planning authorities cannot make laws, they only exist to administer the law. You should also read 1st protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the right to the peaceful enjoyment of their property. You may have to re-orientate your polytunnel but I suspect it will come within the permitted development stated in the GDO. (Should be available online or in local library/planning office.)

[CimaDirapa]

When asking our planning office (Stroud, Glos) they said that generally there is no need for PP for the smaller size poly's up to 25 feet, anything longer depends on how you anchor it to the ground, cemented in might call for a consultation depending on visibility etc' but if you trench or use anchor plates (which we do) than it's not classified as a permanent structure hence no PP required.

[Dead Dogs]

Even though most of this is an old post, I thought I would contribute my experience.

When I was contemplating the purchase of a polytunnel, 10 by 4 metres (approx 33 by 13 feet), I contacted the local planning office. Their reply was “if the polytunnel is 2m + away from the boundary, 5m+ away from the house and doesn’t occupy greater than 30% of the curtilage it is unlikely to require planning permission. Also note that the use of the proposed polytunnel would be for domestic purposes incidental to the use and enjoyment of the house.” A second email retracted the 2m from boundary restriction.