mobile field shelter

[foxtrot]

Been along time since Ive posted on here!
Just wondering if anyone knows what's what these days regarding mobile field shelters.
I've recently moved my horse to a nearby field but belonging to an equine establishment. I moved here because I was told by the owners I could erect a mobile field shelter. However, I've now been told the local council wont allow it and have several of the field shelters taken down, even tho pp had been given permision.
I'd like to here of other peoples views on this matter if possible.
Thanks.

[ukmicky]

Been along time since Ive posted on here!
Just wondering if anyone knows what's what these days regarding mobile field shelters.
I've recently moved my horse to a nearby field but belonging to an equine establishment. I moved here because I was told by the owners I could erect a mobile field shelter. However, I've now been told the local council wont allow it and have several of the field shelters taken down, even tho pp had been given permision.
I'd like to here of other peoples views on this matter if possible.
Thanks.

I take it's an agricultural field.

.i know you did not ask this but firstly horse grazing is still agricultural so if they try to claim change of use due to you grazing the horse on the field they are clutching at straws .

The only way I think they could object is if they considered the field shelter was a development and had caused a change of use. The problem with that one is as a mobile field shelter is mobile,it's not fixed to the ground and is designed to be moved. It's not permanent. My dad had the same argument in Norfolk and I provided a few appeal decisions where the councils lost which he sent to the council who then backed down.


I will see if I still have the details . It may be better to repost this on one of the other forums on garden law and pilman may see and give his opinion

[Clifford Pope]

I believe that some councils make a point of chasing people with mobile field shelters to make sure that they really are "mobile". If it is a proper field shelter, not just a shed, or a stable, then it should be on "skids", which enable it to be dragged to a new position in the field occasionally. My understanding is that so long as you do that, perhaps twice a year (?) then the council cannot do anything.

Of course in reality, depending on the vigilance of the council, these tend to become gradually more static.
It is important not to do anything that gives it the appearance of permanance - ie do not put down a concrete base, or gravel, just straw bedding.

[jonahinoz]

Hi,

I think that Sec of State v Oxford CC 1981 ruled on appeal that keeping horses was Agriculture. I later read somewhere (Sweet & Maxwell? CLA?) that feeding and exercising a horse did not preclude KEEPING it, so you could do both. However, since then, I have read somewhere that a change in legislation has taken horses out of agriculture. But hey, what do I know?

Way back when, I think the BHS produce a fact sheet on keeping "One Horse on One Acre", and also something about field shelters. Probably out of date now, but maybe a Google for BHS FIELD SHELTER will produce something.

A stable is for the benefit of the horse's owner, He decides when the horse goes in and out. A field shelter does not have a door, so the horse can decide when it needs to go in and out, aka For the benefit of the horse.

Good luck

John W

[cobdale]

I had this situation with leeds planning,re horses and they are only agricultural if (1) they are working on the land or (2) if they are being fattened up to kill for meat.

[jonahinoz]

(1) they are working on the land or (2) if they are being fattened up to kill for meat.

Hi Cobdale,

That would have been my assumption. It's been many years since I kept horses, but last time I looked, the definition referred to something like "meat, muscle, or fur". Pity there was no mention of producing FYM. I doubt that there would be any point in arguing that the horse is being fattened slowly ... like over 20 years, lets face it most horses finish up as meat (I understand the lions at Longleat enjoy it).

Something that the Planners seem to have missed, is that should Britain suffer a shortage of oil, there will be a need to draft (draught ... excuse the pun) horses into service to move goods around the country. I wonder how much horses benefit the Economy in the form of jobs, and feed production, etc. HMG is complaining that that we are obese ... my muscle tone has deteriated since I stopped riding for a couple of hours a week. The medical profession were concerned about a pregnant friend ... they were unable to feel her baby through her stomach muscles, and she also only rode a couple of hours each week. OT - Walking is supposed to be better for you than sitting, but who would you put your money on, in a punch-up between a postman and a truck driver (Present company excepted).

FYM? Farm Yard Manure ... a valuable commodity.

John W

[cobdale]

I would like to see the planners face when u explained you were fattening him up over twenty years,

[jonahinoz]

Hin Cobdale,

It must be the worm burden, but I'll persevere

OT, but similarities. A farmer was "done" for taking his daughter's pony to the horse show. The pony was in a trailer horse box, being towed by a farm tractor. As a riding pony is not "agricultural", the farmer had committed a vehicle excise offence. If he had been taking the pony to an abbatoir, he would probably have been legit ... provided it was accepted that the pony was HIS, and a product of HIS farm.

602

[cobdale]

under the animal welfare act ,you have to provide suitable shelter for an animal,if you get a copy of the 2006 animal welfare guide or down load a section of it from the defra site,this may help you,all rspca employees carry a copy of it,and try to use it as a law book (which it's not) but to present to planners may do you some good