1 Land Use Planning and Nature Conservation
13.147 The law of land use planning has a particular importance in relation to nature conservation. As we have seen agricultural land use is largely outside the control of the Town and Country Planning legislation277 and, even where planning permission is required for development on agricultural land automatic permission is granted for many types of agricultural development by the General Permitted Development Order 2015.278 Where planning permission is not required for development, controls on agricultural land use are imposed by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010.279 Where planning permission is required for a development, however, the grant of permission on application will give a defence to any potential liability under the 1981 Act.280
13.148 Where planning permission is required for operational development or a change of use, it follows that development control law (informed in its application by planning policy guidance) has priority over the conservation legislation.
The process for obtaining development consent from the relevant planning body will provide the forum in which the conservation interest will be adjudicated upon. Planning policy now strongly supports the conservation of wildlife and landscapes, and the retention of all grades of agricultural land in efficient production is no longer a priority of the planning system.281 Planning Policy is now set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (2012)282, and is amplified and explained in detailed planning guidance to planning bodies.283