Mike wrote in
:

In article , The Q
writes

"Chris Nellist" wrote
in message ...
How do the English laws and regulations governing 'designated
agricultural land' come into play when someone wants to convert
farmland into garden??

You have to apply to the local council for planning permission for the
change, how they play it is purely up to their local policy.
Many councils are very "anti"

They see it as the 'first move' to getting planning permission for a
dwelling

I'd just want it as a garden though! :-)

So am I correct in thinking that the legal reason is that turning a
formerly farmed field into a garden counts as a 'change of use', even if it
wouldn't involve any actual building, the same way as converting an urban
garage into an office does?

What is the relevant legislation? For field-to-garden changes is it just
the council, or does DEFRA get a look-in?

In the late 60's a chap planted a Vineyard. He then applied for
planning permission to build a 'dwelling'. Refused.

He tried again from time to time. Refused.

He then applied to build a cellar. Granted as long as it was
underground.

He then applied to put a bottling plant on top. Refused

He tried again. Granted and you have never seen a bottling plant look
more like a house ;-)

Yes he eventually moved in, it took him about 30 years and the
vineyard has since been sold.

'That' is what councils are cagey about.

I am watching another one now. Large house with a detached garage and
a plot of land through to the next road at the back.

Early 1970's, permission given to convert Garage to Granny annex.

Granny must have died later because the annex was upgraded to a full
bungalow and sold.

There's loads of that sort of thing in parts of Scotland too - when I lived
there, I saw loads of cases where people got grants for this or that
'business', often one that did very little trade - e.g. bed and breakfast
in locations where hardly any potential guests would ever knock on the
door, and in one case a 'restaurant' which was hilarious because there was
a sign advertising it on the road, and then when you walked up to the house
and asked if the bloke could tell you where the restaurant was, he'd adopt
a quizzical look and say 'Restaurant? No, there's no restaurant near here',
as if you'd asked where the helipad was or something! Almost always, part
of it was that people would have large extensions built on to their houses.

Chris