Can the council stop me using a field for my dog walking business?

• Reader lives in a rural area and started a dog walking business in their field 
• The council asked them to apply for planning permission, then refused it 
• We speak to a planning expert about the options going forward 

I live on a farm near Bristol, in the middle of the countryside and miles from any neighbours. I’ve been using one of our fields for dog walking, just to earn a little extra income.

People drop off their dogs at various times of the day and I walk them around the field.

The council somehow found out about it and asked me to apply for planning permission, which I did, but now they have refused the application saying that I am changing the use of the field away from agriculture and that I don’t have enough parking.

It seems a hugely disproportionate response – is there anything I can do? MH

MailOnline Property expert Myra Butterworth replies: I’m sorry to hear that your attempts to be entrepreneurial have been dismissed by the council.

There are rules around changing the use of land, even if there are no physical changes or building works.

We speak to a planning expert about your options, including whether you could consider applying for a certificate of lawfulness. This is an application asking the council to confirm that what you are doing does not amount to a change of use.

Martin Gaine, a chartered town planner, replies: The council is right that you generally need planning permission to change the use of land, even if there are no physical changes or building works. But is walking a few dogs on a field really a change of use?

It depends on the dog walking. If your business has grown to the point that the site looks more like a dog walking arena than an agricultural field, then a change of use has probably occurred.

There is a big difference in someone walking a few dogs occasionally on a casual basis, and a more formalised business where the character of the field has changed, and the field can no longer practically be used for farming.

It is more likely to be a change of use where you have put up signage, for example, or fenced off areas of the field for the dogs. 

The highways authority will be concerned where there are lots of cars coming and going along a narrow, single-track road, or parking haphazardly next to the entrance to the field.

Having said all that, it still seems to me that the council’s response is disproportionate. I am not convinced a person walking dogs for some income in a field really amounts to a change of use.

The council’s decision to refuse also contradicts Government policy supporting the development and growth of rural businesses. 

However, as Jeremy Clarkson found out when he was refused planning permission for the expansion of business activities at Diddly Squat farm, these considerations often play second fiddle to a determination among the planners to protect the countryside.

I suspect you have fallen into their trap by applying for planning permission when they asked you to. By applying for a change of use, you confirmed that such a thing has happened. 

The application triggers a variety of planning assessments of highways, parking, sustainability, biodiversity and loss of agricultural land. The planners love to say no, so sometimes it is best not to ask.

Instead, you should consider applying for a certificate of lawfulness, a form of application asking the council to confirm that what you are doing does not amount to a change of use. 

You will need to complete an application form and submit a site plan along with detailed information on exactly what happens at the site. Explain how many dogs are walked, and when. 

Provide information on vehicle movements – how many dogs are dropped off and picked up by car. Show any physical changes at the site (there should be very few).

There is plenty of case law around this area and a good planning consultant should be able to put together a strong argument.

If your dog walking activities are of a nature that they represent a change of use, you should scale them back so that they fit in better in a rural area.