Business Clinic: Pop-up campsites – have we missed the boat?

Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help.

Stephen Richards, head of rural leisure, Carter Jonas, advises on setting up a pop-up camping site.

Q. We are in an attractive area of the south of England and are considering setting up a pop-up campsite under permitted development rights on a level grass field.

The impression we have is that it is very straightforward and that we can offer camping for 56 days a year without planning permission, but is it really that simple – is there no paperwork, form filling or inspection?

Do we have to let anyone know we are doing this? What are the rules, if any, on the provision of facilities? Is there a limit on the number of pitches or people? And are we too late in the season to start now?

A. Let me start with some good news – it really is that simple.

This was formerly known as the “28-day rule”, under which anyone, without planning permission, could open a campsite for 28 days – provided they had space and facilities.

Last summer, with foreign travel restricted and so-called “staycations” massively oversubscribed, this was extended to 56 days.

This extension had no end date and is still valid now. The industry has been lobbying hard for it to be extended further to 72 days but, at the time of writing, this has not happened.

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The rule is used frequently by existing leisure operators which expand their site for the busiest part of the summer, but it applies equally to, and is used by, farmers or other businesses that open up just for the 28/56-day period.

You don’t need to ask for permission, and you won’t be subject to any inspections.

You will, however, need to let the planning department of your local authority know that you’re doing it – and their requirements for this will differ ever so slightly depending on which local authority area you’re in, so it’s worth speaking with them as soon as you can. It shouldn’t be too onerous though.

Minimum facilities

There are no legal requirements as to what facilities must be offered, but there is a minimum level that customers will expect – toilets, showers and a washing-up area. Existing operators that expand will be fine on this point, but most will need to put something in place.

This could be purpose-built blocks (which will require planning permission) but could equally be temporary/mobile structures – or could exist for the purposes of another enterprise.

There are a few sites that offer “off-grid” camping, which, to a certain extent, reduces the expectation for the provision of facilities, but toilets will still be required.

There is no legal limit on pitches or guests, but you will be restricted by practicalities, health and safety and consumer expectation.

This will depend partly on why your guests are there, and how long they are staying – for example, if they are staying one or two nights for a sporting event, they might not expect the same amount of space as a family coming for two weeks for their main summer holiday.

To your final point on whether you’re too late in the season to start – yes and no.

The peak season for camping in the UK is during the school summer holidays, and you’d need to plan ahead with getting your facilities set up, and advertising your availability, which there isn’t time to do for 2021.

That said, September is still a popular time to go camping and, this year, we are expecting holiday accommodation in the UK to be extremely popular, and it seems likely that next year will be the same, so don’t rule it out just based on the timings for this year.

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