Livestock Buildings and the 28 Day Rule: The 400 Metre Test Every Farmer Should Know

A new cattle shed, calf house or sheep building is one of the biggest investments a livestock farm makes. Under agricultural permitted development, the right building in the right place can be cleared by the council in as little as 28 days. Put it in the wrong place and you are into a full planning application, with more cost, more reports and a much longer wait. The deciding factor is often a single measurement: 400 metres.

How the 28 day rule works for new farm buildings

Part 6, Class A of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 gives farms of 5 hectares or more the right to put up buildings that are reasonably necessary for agriculture on that unit. You do not need full planning permission, but before you start you must apply to the council for a determination of whether its prior approval is needed for the siting, design and external appearance of the building.

The application is a written description of the building and the materials, a plan showing the site and the fee. The council then has 28 days. If it confirms prior approval is not needed, or the 28 days pass without a decision, you can build. If it decides prior approval is needed, you must wait for that approval before starting. The building must then be completed within 5 years.

Class A has firm limits. Since 21 May 2024, a building erected or extended under Class A can cover up to 1,500 square metres, while other works or structures for accommodating livestock are limited to 1,000 square metres. Buildings cannot exceed 12 metres in height (3 metres within 3 kilometres of an aerodrome), nothing can be within 25 metres of a trunk or classified road, and separate parcels of the unit under 1 hectare are excluded. Other buildings put up within 90 metres in the previous 2 years count towards the area limit.

The 400 metre rule for livestock buildings

This is where many livestock projects come unstuck. Class A does not allow a building, structure or excavation used for the accommodation of livestock, or for storing slurry or sewage sludge, within 400 metres of the curtilage of a protected building.

A protected building is any permanent building normally occupied by people. Your own farmhouse and the buildings on your agricultural unit do not count, and nor do farmhouses or farm buildings on another farm. A neighbour's house that is not part of a farm, a village, a school or an office does count. The 400 metres is measured to the edge of its curtilage, usually the garden boundary, not to the house itself.

Existing buildings within 400 metres can only be used to house livestock in narrow circumstances. There must be no suitable building 400 metres or more away, and the need must arise from quarantine, an emergency such as fire, flood or storm damage, or animals normally kept outdoors that are sick, giving birth, newly born or need shelter from extreme weather.

Before anything is designed, map every non farm house and occupied building around the site and draw the 400 metre line from each curtilage. That map tells you whether the 28 day route is open to you.

What this means for your farm business

If the building sits outside every 400 metre zone and meets the other limits, prior approval is the fastest and most cost effective way to get consent. It is not a formality. Siting, materials and colour still matter, and a well prepared application avoids the council asking for more information or calling the scheme in for full scrutiny.

If the building falls within 400 metres of a protected building, you need full planning permission. That means full drawings and supporting reports, which for livestock buildings often include noise, odour, manure management, drainage and ecology. Mandatory biodiversity net gain can apply to full applications, subject to exemptions, whereas development carried out under permitted development rights is not caught by it. The statutory target for most farm building applications is 8 weeks rather than 28 days, the fee is usually higher, and neighbours are consulted, so objections become part of the process.

Moving a building a short distance can change the route completely. On larger holdings, a site further from the village edge may bring the project back within permitted development. On tighter holdings with houses scattered around the yard, it is better to plan for full planning from the start than to submit a prior approval application that is bound to fail. Livestock country such as the dairy vales of Dorset faces this question all the time, and our farm planning consultants in Dorset page explains the local constraints in more detail.

How Foxes Rural Can Help

Foxes Rural works only on farm planning. We check your site against the 400 metre rule and every Class A limit before a drawing is made, tell you plainly whether permitted development will work, and then prepare either a prior approval application or a full planning application built to succeed. Call us on 01206 481981 or get in touch through our Contact page.