How Can I Get Planning Permission for a House in the Countryside?

Always dreamed of living the rural life, on your own, family land, and wanted to know if you could get planning permission?

We at Marshall McCann Architects specialise in rural planning and design of one-off houses in the countryside. The furore around PPS21 has died down, but the effects of it are still the same: planning permission for houses in the countryside is more difficult to obtain than it was prior to 2010. However, there are still options for gaining a site in the countryside.

1. House on a farm. You (or a close family member, the landowner) is a registered farmer. This means that there is a DARD (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) Business ID Number, for 6 or more years. The farmer also needs to have been in receipt of Single Farm Payment. In addition, no other sites or houses have been sold off the farm in the past 10 years. Please contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION and we can help you find a suitable site.
2. Infill site: where there is a row of roadside houses (3 or more), and a gap between the houses (as shown in the above illustration), it may be possible to get an ‘infill site’. This land may even currently be part of your garden. Please contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION and we can help decide whether it is feasible to apply for planning permission.
3. Replacement dwelling: where there is an existing house (which may currently be lived in, or an unhabitable old dwelling), it may be possible to get planning permission to demolish & rebuild a new house. Reusing an existing non-domestic building (eg an old stone barn) may also be possible. Give us a call for a FREE CONSULTATION to get us to investigate the possibilities.
4. A site within a rural community. This is harder to define, but it may be possible to get a site approved where the land is situated within a ‘Dispersed Rural Community’. This is an area where there is a community focal point (Church, School, community building / hall), whereby a new house may be allowed if it is within the existing cluster of houses.
5. Special circumstances: this is a clause within planning to allow for a new house where there are site specific, unique circumstances. We normally suggest that if we have to tell you what ‘special circumstances’ are, then you do not have them! Please get in touch if you believe that you have specific, special circumstances, and we can help decipher the planning policy around this.

We would only be too pleased to help interpret the planning policy, and enable you to decide whether it is worth applying for Planning Permission. Give us a call, and we can have an initial look online at satellite maps to help establish whether it is an avenue worth pursuing.