The most common question we are asked is ‘do we need planning permission to keep horses?’. This depends on the circumstances and the answer is not black and white. Planning permission is almost always required for new equestrian structures such as barns, stables and riding arenas.
Failure to obtain the correct planning permission for your new build leaves you susceptible to enforcement from your local Council, ultimately you could be ordered to take your new building(s) down.

Wherever your project falls within the spectrum, the team at Equestrian Blueprint are fully equipped to support you from start to finish so you can rest assured that your facilities are here to stay.

Change of use

The first thing to look at is the landholding that you wish to build upon. Horses may graze on agricultural land, provided that it’s their sole source of feed. If they are supplementarily fed, ridden or lunged on the land, then a change of use application would be required to change the agricultural designation to an equestrian designation. One possible exception to this rule is if it can be proven that the land is in use for 28 days or fewer per year.

In the case that horses are being kept for business purposes such as a livery or riding school on premises previously used for personal equestrian use. Then a change of use would likely be required for the land, stables, and any buildings utilised for business purposes.

Newly built equestrian structures such as arenas and stables will almost always require a change of use application, alongside a full application. Whereas the conversion of existing buildings to equestrian use is likely to just require a change of use application.

Without the correct change of use, horse or livery owners are liable to enforcement from their local Council.

Types of development

People often believe that equine facilities fall under agricultural permitted development rights similar to farms. However, unless you are keeping horses for farming purposes such as pulling a plough, this is not the case. The Council understand that horses are kept for sport, recreational and business purposes which are not classed as agricultural activities. As a result of this, planning permission for new equestrian developments almost always requires full planning permission, this includes:

There are some exceptions to this though, the first of which pertains to *Mobile Field Shelters. These can appear to be a grey area in planning terms, but provided a set of requirements are met, planning is typically not required. These requirements include the following: The shelter must be moved regularly to new locations in the field to demonstrate it is “mobile” (once every 28 days); the fronts of the shelter must not be enclosed (such as with a gate or door), and planning authorities will typically only accept one “mobile” field shelter per field. However, the use of a field to keep horses usually requires planning permission, and, therefore, “mobile” field shelters associated with keeping horses can be controlled by conditions of the planning permission. If you wish to site the shelter on any type of prepared base, have a permanent fixture to the ground, or run any type of service to it (water/electric etc.), then planning advice should be sought. This is not an exhaustive list and as the laws are constantly evolving with this type of development, you should proceed with caution, especially if you do not intend to seek planning advice.

The question of permitted development rights arises again when an individual wishes to erect stables for personal enjoyment within their domestic curtilage. In this case you may be eligible to build under permitted development, subject to certain criteria. For instance, provided your building is within a specific size and dependent on the distance from the house. However, any land used for grazing or exercising may still require a change of use application. NB this does not apply to listed buildings and settings.

Greenbelt, AONBs, Conservation Areas and other designations

The government gives some areas of the country designations to prevent urban sprawl, protect wildlife and other such priorities. The most common designations of this nature are ‘Green Belt’ and ‘AONB’ or ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. In these cases, specifically in Green Belt locations, you should always seek planning advice. Councils typically apply more stringent regulations in these areas, and as such, planning permission advice should be sought at an early stage. To see if your property is in one of these designations, you can use Magic Maps.

Closing words

As previously mentioned, the laws are constantly evolving concerning planning permissions and permitted development, so proceed with caution. In all cases, you should seek guidance from your Local Planning Authority and/or independent planning advice.

For Government advice, please visit https://www.planningportal.co.uk/