Commencement of use notification - agricultural buildings to a flexible commercial use

Permitted development rights under Part 3 Class R of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development Order) 2015 allow the change of use of existing agricultural buildings not exceeding 500 square metres of floor space to a flexible use falling within classes B8 (storage or distribution), Class C1 (hotels) or Class E (commercial, business and service).

For these permitted development rights to apply:

  • The building concerned must not be a listed building or a scheduled monument 
  • The buildings must be solely in agricultural use since 3 July 2012 or if the use began later than that date, for a period of at least 10 years.

Where the cumulative floorspace of the building to be changed does not exceed 150 square metres, the developer must notify the Council that they wish to change the use of the building to one of the flexible uses identified above and provide the following details:

  1. The date the site will begin to be used for any of the flexible uses 
  2. The nature of the use or uses and 
  3. A plan indicating the site and which buildings have changes use

There is no fee for this process.

Notifications should be sent to the address on this page.

The site may change to another flexible use subject to further notification to the Council.