JJ, Great Yarmouth
I am afraid that what you have heard is wrong and misleading. The erection of a house constructed with timber or any other material supported on wooden piers will involve development for which planning permission is required. Even if it could be argued that planning consent wasn’t required for the erection of a house, the standing and occupation of the house on a field would represent a material change in the use of the field that would require permission. It may help if I draw an analogy with a caravan. It has long been accepted that stationing and occupying a caravan for residential purposes results in a material change of use of land for which planning permission is required.
It is clear that your field is outside the development boundary of your council’s local plan. Your council, along with all the other local planning authorities in England, will have started the preparing of a local development framework (LDF) which, when adopted, will replace the current plan and will guide the development of your area for the next 15 years.
Given that your field is “not half a mile away” from a housing development and that it is likely that your council will be looking to identify further land for new housing, it is just possible that your field might be considered in the future. You could arrange a meeting with a member of your council’s forward planning team to discuss the potential development of your site and the council’s programme for preparing its LDF.
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Michael Haslam OBE is a past president of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a director of Michael Haslam Associates
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