Huts, shelters etc.

[northmetking]

My wife and I are planning on buying a small woodland hopefully later on this year.

One thing that I am keen on doing is building shelters etc with my young nephew.

How would I stand in terms of permission etc for this?

We'd be making basic bivouacs etc, but beyond that, do I need to ask permission to, say, build a little treehouse for/with my nephew?

Or, given that planning permission is needed for any excavation over a metre deep, what if I want to have a go at making a pithouse? Do I really need planning permission for that?

[tracy]

Hi Northmetking

Good to see you on here. We have a little guide to sheds on the website, that you might find useful:

http://www.swog.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/Advice-on-woodland-sheds.pdf

You could certainly build small non permanent shelters with your nephew. As long as it is temporary and doesn't have a concrete floor you will be fine. The issue is mainly to do with damaging the woodland floor.

The tree house is a more woolly one - someone else might be able to advise you. I think a small one would be fine, and it would be advisable to avoid nails so that you don't permanently damage the trees. It is also safer for future foresters if there are no nails in trees ;-)

As far as I know excavations need planning permission. You would he permission to dig for a pond, but I doubt that you would for a pithouse. Not sure though, someone else might!

Hope this helps and you get your woodland soon

Tracy

[northmetking]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely have a read of the guide.

Good points about the treehouse, regarding nails. I hadn't thought as far as nails, or indeed construction at all, just that it might be a nice thing to do!

From looking on here and a couple of other sites, and reading some books on the subject, it does seem like it's a matter of common sense.

One other thing I was wondering about was a sheltered area to provide a dry, sheltered area in which to work (I'm planning on doing green wood crafts, all being well).

If the main concern is damaging the forest floor, I guess a tarp suspended over an area loosely hedged with brash, would be ok?

We're itching to get started, just need to have patience, but in the meantime, my mind is fizzing with plans and ideas....

[tracy]

I think you are right, a tarp is a good place to start. You will have other ideas as time goes on too - and its good not to upset anyone straight away!

Hopefully you could get along to one of our meetings sometime and chat through some ideas with others

T

[wrekin]

These two articles are often referred to: http://www.woods4sale.co.uk/planning.htm

The key thing with the GPDO that they refer to is that you have the _right_ to build structures for forestry purposes, although in some cases you need to notify your planning authority in case they want to object to your reasoning. "Developments" which are motivated by forestry therefore have a special status in all this.

If you're not in an AONB or SSI, you should be able to get agreement from your local planning authority under the permitted development regulations that you can build a shed to be used in the work you're going to do in your woodland: storage, maintaining / repairing tools, somewhere for volunteers to change, eat etc in bad weather. Having agreed a management plan with your local Forestry Commission officer, even verbally on the phone or during a site visit, and mentioning their name in the covering letter may help convince the council that you're serious and not secretly trying to build a house.

Once you get it built under these terms, they can't tell you to take it down. They can just tell you (ie issue you with an enforcement notice) to stop using it in some other way if they find you're sleeping in it etc.

[John H]

Yes very good advice not to use nails. I hate nails.

John

[ncrawshaw]

Re; wrekin's post. I believe that to qualify for 'permitted development' rights, your woodland needs to exceed 5 hectares (about 13 acres).

[northmetking]

Thanks ncrawshaw, I noticed in the "Woodlands and planning legislation" article that "there are reduced PD rights for holdings less than 5 hectares".

We're only looking at 4-5 acres, so would be subject to this, although exactly how this works doesn't seem to be clarified anywhere.

Apart from shelter-building for fun, I was expecting to be able to put up a small shed to store a few tools, wellies, Kelly Kettle etc. From what I've read, it looks like even this could perhaps be a problem.

Anyway, when we do get the woodland, I'll follow the steps recommended by people here and hopefully will not run into any problems getting the go-ahead for a shed.

From what I've been reading so far, one thing that I don' t like, is the thought of being constantly visited and checked up on by people to check we're not secretly building a house (which wouldn't be that secret in 4 acres!) or totting up the nights we've spent in the woodland to make sure it's not over 28.

One of the reasons we are so keen to get our own woodland is to escape from everything and enjoy being close to nature in the peace and quiet, do some painting, birdwatching, reading etc and I hope we'll be able to do that without being pestered.

Has anyone had any experience with that happening at all, or am I worrying over nothing?

[splodger]

wait until you visit our little patch - you'll be surprised what you can get away with

[northmetking]

We'll look forward to it, Splodger ;-)