Acorus are pleased to have secured planning permission for a car boot operator to use a site for 28 days of the year. The site is within the Green Belt and the issue in planning terms is the impact of the use (albeit temporary) upon the openness of the Green Belt.
A car boot activity (as a market) is Permitted Development as per Part 4 of the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), which allows for 14 days within a calendar year for the ‘holding of a market’……
Class B (temporary use of land) of Part 4 (temporary buildings and uses) of the GPDO states:
‘Permitted Development
The use of any land for any purpose for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year, of which not more than 14 days in total may be for the purposes of —
(a)the holding of a market; and
(b)motor car and motorcycle racing including trials of speed, and practising for these activities,
and the provision on the land of any moveable structure for the purposes of the permitted use.’
There is development that is not permitted such as if ‘the use of the land is for a caravan site’, ‘the land is, or is within, a site of special scientific interest and the use of the land is for motor car and motorcycle racing including trials of speed or other motor sports, and practising for these activities’ and, ‘the use of the land is for the display of an advertisement’.
However, in 2020 as a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic, this permitted development provision was increased to 28 days and likewise in 2021 but, has now reverted back to 14 days.
The car boot market has operated from this 9 acre site for 25 years either on Sundays, Bank Holidays or Wednesdays. An ideal site for the operation with the land laid to grass, well screened by hedgerows and trees to all sides minimising landscape impact with separate entrance and exit points.
The market is well regarded with a consistent level of sellers and buyers throughout the year.
In order to continue to provide the same number of car boot sales from the site in 2022, and future years, a full planning application was submitted for 28 days per year.
The client operates another site elsewhere in the region so the ‘model’ for that equally successful site in terms of days of operation, hours of operation, dealing with litter, toilet facilities, use of generators/amplifiers and traffic management were duplicated for this site.
As the site had been used for the past 25 years without issue including for the extra days from the previous two years and the duplicate model proposed, the Local Planning Authority considered the proposal to be acceptable in the Green Belt and granted the application.
The client is delighted with the positive decision and the extra days over and above the permitted development rights will continue to provide greater flexibility for the operation
