Policy CTY10 – New dwellings on farms

Most farmers are aware of this policy, but are not 100% sure of the criteria for obtaining planning permission on their farm.

To comply with the policy, you have to fulfill the following requirements:

  • The farm business must be currently active and have been established for at least 6 years.
  • The new building must be visually linked or sited to cluster with an established group of buildings on the farm
  • Where practicable, access to the dwelling should be obtained from an existing lane.

Planning permission granted under this policy will only be forthcoming once every 10 years. However many farmers do not seem to realise that while they must wait 10 years between applications that any applications approved prior to November 2008 do not count under this policy.

We would recommend that anyone who complies with the criteria, apply for planning as soon as possible.  The sooner you receive the 1st approval, then sooner you will be able to apply for your 2nd site, which can come in very handy if you have more than one child who will be looking for their own house someday.

It is also important to note that sites approved under this policy do not have to be kept as part of the farm and can be sold to anyone.

If you think you might have a site and would like some advice, or would like to talk to us about submitting an application, please get in touch here.