Agricultural & Forestry Buildings

Most agricultural and forestry buildings do not require planning permission.

However, they do require what is called a ‘Prior Approval’: an authorised exception issued by the LPA confirming that the applicant can build without planning permission.

Note: a Prior Approval is not decided by the merits of the proposed building – The LPA is not concerned, for example, with the building’s appearance. 

Instead, the building must first satisfy a number of measurement tests. These concern the size of the enterprise; the size of the plot where the building is to go; and the size of the building itself. 

Second comes a set of questions concerning the building’s function. The LPA needs to be assured that you will not use the building for any prohibited purpose or to contain any prohibited substance.

Finally, the proposal must be greater than a minimum distance from certain features, such as an airfield, a metalled road or a listed building.

So long as the building satisfies these tests, the LPA cannot refuse to grant Prior Approval, no matter how unappealing the building actually is.