§ Viscount Merseyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Under what circumstances it is legal to erect or introduce agricultural buildings and caravans without planning permission.
8WA
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch):Agricultural buildings require planning permission. Part 6 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning General Development Order 1988 gives permitted development rights for agricultural buildings erected on agricultural land subject to limits on the size, height and location of the buildings. The buildings must be reasonably necessary for the purposes of agriculture within the agricultural unit, and must be designed for the purposes of agriculture.
Whether a caravan would require planning permission depends on the use to which it is to be put. Planning permission will always be required for a caravan used regularly as accommodation, whether for a farm worker or anyone else. Where a caravan is used for the purposes of agriculture, planning permission is generally not required, since such use is outside the definition of development and thus outside the normal scope of planning control.