12.01 Many agricultural land uses are outside the Town and Country Planning legislation.
Some agricultural developments and changes in land use do not require planning permission, and for those where permission is required the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 20151 gives automatic permission (‘permitted development rights’) for many minor building and engineering operations on agricultural land.2 Some permitted development rights are subjected by the 2015 Order to conditions aimed at controlling the potentially harmful effects of intensive agricultural development eg near dwellings and roads.
Furthermore, the implementation of the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directive3 has meant that some major agricultural projects which may have a significant effect on the environment, and which require planning permission, are now also subjected to an environmental impact assessment before permission can be granted.4 EIA also applies to some types of farm activity that does not normally require planning permission eg the conversion of semi natural grazing land to intensive agricultural use.12.02 Although many agricultural activities remain outside the ambit of full planning control, closely targeted restrictions now apply to several types of agricultural development to address environmental protection or landscape issues. The vehicle for the introduction of tighter planning controls has principally been the General Permitted Development Order (‘GDO’), which has been amended on several occasions since 1992 to introduce additional controls on agricultural development. So, for example, development involving the erection of buildings, or the making of private ways on farmland, must now be notified to the local planning authority, who have been given powers to impose conditions as to the siting and design of buildings to be erected with GDO rights, even though no formal planning application is required.5 Similarly, additional restrictions have been placed on the permitted development rights applicable to livestock buildings and slurry/sewage sludge facilities.
12.03 Another consideration leading to an increase in planning controls has been the needs of environmental protection. Although the main thrust of the legislation concerned with nature conservation is based upon the voluntary participation of farmers and landowners in conservation measures (eg by the conclusion of management agreements),6 stricter planning controls on agricultural practices have also been introduced within designated wildlife sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Areas of Conservation designated under the EU Habitats and Species Directive of 1992. These require an environmental assessment to be carried out before operations are carried out in protected sites, targeted at protecting the conservation interest of wildlife and habitats.7 Planning controls have also, of course, for some considerable time been the principal legal mechanism used to control damaging agricultural practices and development in areas designated not for nature conservation purposes, but for their landscape value and/or amenity purposes – such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks.8
1SI 2015/596.
2Ibid, Sch 2, Part 6 Class A, discussed further below at para 12.49 ff.
3Directive 2011/92/EU of the Council and the European Parliament on the assessment of the effects of certain private and public projects on the environment [2011] OJ L26/1. The 2011 Directive consolidated amendments to the original EIA Directive (Council Directive 85/337/EEC, [1985] OJ L175/40) and made by: Directive 97/11/EC, [1997] OJ L73/5; Directive 2003/35/EC, [2003] OJ L156/17; and Directive 2009/31/EC, [2009] OJ L140/114.
4Under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/1824: and see DETR Circular 02/1999, ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’. The Regulations currently in force in Scotland are the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, SSI 2011/139.
5See further para 12.99 ff below for discussion of the notification requirements applicable to permitted development rights under the GDO.
6The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and other conservation legislation is considered below in Chapter 13.
7See the Conservation of Habitats & Species Regulations 2010, SI 2010/490 discussed in Ch. 13 at para 13.64 ff.
8Eg in relation to Art 2(3), (4), ‘Land’ and Art 2(4) ‘Land in National Parks etc.’ pursuant to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, SI 2015/596.
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