Welsh farmers shun pop-up campsites as planning laws differ
© Adobe Stock Welsh farmers and landowners are turning away from campsite diversifications due to a lack of government action to extend permitted development rights, rural campaigners say.
Dan Yates, the founder of booking site Pitchup.com, believes this is due to Welsh government inaction over permitted development rights (PDR), which govern how long a landowner can run a campsite before having to apply for extra planning permission.
Just 33 new Welsh pop-up campsites were added to the platform in the past 12 months, down from 53 the year before and 97 the year before that.
See also: How to go about diversifiying into farm pop-up campsites
Currently, PDR allows farmers and landowners in Wales to run a temporary campsite for 28 days a year. In England, however, landowners can legally operate for 60 days a year.
The Welsh government ran a public consultation on extending PDR to help farmers diversify and boost the rural economy, but more than two years after this consultation ended, ministers have yet to make an announcement on the issue.
The lack of clarity is having a chilling effect on the sector, Mr Yates claims, as Welsh landowners feel they are not being treated fairly or kept updated with possible changes to the law.
He said: “A sector that should be absolutely flourishing is rapidly slowing down and likely to go into reverse over the next couple of years if something isn’t done.”
‘Ridiculous’ rule anomaly
Freda Shaw, who runs the Boat House, a pop-up campsite on land beside the River Severn near Welshpool, branded the decision not to extend PDR as “ridiculous”.
She said: “There’s a pop-up campsite a couple of miles away that is just over the border and they can open for 60 days. It’s just ridiculous that we are being punished by the inaction of the Welsh government.”
After lobbying from Pitchup.com and rural organisations, PDR in England was permanently extended in June 2023 to 60 days, while in Wales and Scotland it remains at 28.
Farmers Weekly has requested a comment from the Welsh government.