Our entrepreneurial client, a Wiltshire farmer, had been diversifying his farm to raise additional income, renting out his disused barns to caravan owners looking for alternative storage to their driveways, outside the summer months, and had received an enforcement letter, advising a lack of planning permission to do so.

The Brief

To resolve the Enforcement Issue and apply for Change of Use for the disused barns from agricultural to storage, to generate additional income outside of agriculture.

Our Approach

We met with the Enforcement Officer on site, to assess the scope of the caravan rental business, reviewing the rental income and surmised that a planning application could easily resolve the breach of planning.

By liaising directly with the Enforcement Officer, we were able to secure her agreement to pause the enforcement notice whilst we gathered evidence for the Planning Statement.

Rural Diversification

At the same time, the farmer advised that he wished to further diversify by installing additional shipping containers on-site for people to store household items. The timing meant we could incorporate both elements - Change of Use and the installation of Shipping Containers - in one application.

In the Field Research

We revisited the site and verified that if the shipping containers were positioned discreetly, they would not harm or impact the surrounding area in any way.

By walking the neighbouring public rights of way, we were able to recommend in the Planning Application, that the shipping containers could be deemed acceptable if additional planting was proposed.

Positive Impact on the Rural Economy

On gathering all our evidence, we put together a Planning Statement to accompany the Wiltshire Planning Application, highlighting all the relevant planning policies we were working in accordance with, including the importance of supporting rural business and encouraging farm diversification, allowing the farmer to further contribute to the local Wiltshire economy.

Part of our statement included a recommendation to paint the shipping containers dark green to blend in with the surroundings as well as the addition of soft landscaping to ensure they were well screened from any public right of way.

Result

The Planning Application was submitted and approved, smoothly and quickly. Planning Permission was granted, 12 shipping containers were installed and the enforcement case dropped.