Planning Permission Considerations for Temporary and Fabric Structures in England and Wales.

When it comes to re-locatable fabric structures and modular flat-packed structures there are often misconceptions in the minds of the general public as to whether they need planning permission for temporary buildings from the Local Planning Authority(LPA). Many interested parties believe “If it is temporary… it does not need planning permission”. Sadly, this is not the case. In short, a large structure erected for more than 28 days, or is NOT a permitted development on the site will need planning permission. We will deal with Permitted Development Rights (PD’s) in another article in the coming weeks. This discussion page is an attempt to set out some of the sorts of issues that are likely to arise on a planning application to a (LPA) when embarking on erecting a fabric or modular structure. Clearly this article is not a definitive list, but is our take on where points of dispute with local planning authorities are likely to arise. In short, the key variables that will be considered when applying for planning permission: Size of the structure; Use of the structure; Siting of the structure. To give you an idea of what we mean by that, two extremes could be considered: A small shelter, in an industrial area, which is proposed to be used for the medium term storage of equipment (i.e. few associated trips with the building, no emissions associated with its use); or A large shelter, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, close to residential properties, which is proposed to be used for a transport-intensive, smelly activity (say the interim storage and transit of manure, or some other organic matter). Clearly one of those is going to encounter more problems within the planning system, owing principally to its size, use or situation. There will of course seldom be extreme cases like these, but they serve to illustrate the broad range of objections (at one end of the spectrum) or support (at the other) that applications will face.