Charles Holt (Lincoln)

The headline above is maybe a little too poetic, but what I really mean is – persistence can pay off.  That is particularly the case when planning permission applications are concerned.

That is not to say that persistence pays off if your case is poor – that will probably not be a good strategy. But if you are convinced of your case, and your professional team is as well, then it can be worth pushing on.

So do not necessarily take a refusal of permission and a failure at appeal as the last answer.  Similarly, if the Local Planning Authority (LPA) will not register and validate your application, when you consider their reasons are poor or wrong, you do not have to take it as the ‘final answer’.  

A good example of this is a client who first got in touch with me in early 2015, after losing an Enforcement Planning Appeal.  They had been trying to obtain planning consent for a residential caravan on a farm, for a temporary period.

I prepared an appraisal of the business, which was submitted to the LPA.  This application was refused, mainly because the LPA was so certain of their case having won the first Appeal.  However, together with a planning consultant, we appealed their refusal.  We won the appeal in 2017 at a Hearing, and the client was able to station a temporary home on the farm.

A case for a permanent dwelling was submitted in 2019, put together by a different (more local) consultant. However, this was refused permission.  The client took this to Appeal in 2020, but it was decided against them in 2021.

So, the client came back to me, and I prepared a new and stronger case to put to the LPA.  As was expected, they refused to validate the application, and they declined to determine it in March 2021, because of the recent Appeal dismissal.

I advised that they should seek a specialist planning barrister’s Opinion (sourced by us), which was done.  As a result, the LPA finally accepted the application in early 2022, along with two applications for further farm building developments.   

Permission was granted for the two farm buildings after many months, later in 2022.  It has taken further work and much further persuasion of the LPA by the planning consultant and me for the LPA to finally grant planning permission for the permanent dwelling in early 2023, more than a year after submission.

This was a true team effort involving a number of professionals to achieve a successful conclusion.  It was a fraught journey for the client, but at last they have achieved their main aim, of a permanent farmhouse on their farm.  In total it has taken more than eight years, proving that persistence is essential if you really want to succeed.

For all your farm planning issues, contact Charles at charlesholt@fcgagric.com or your local FCG Office.