Plan your campsite dates around the calendar-year reset, booking demand and winter compliance under camping legislation in England and Wales.
Hello, landowners. Choose your camping dates before you notify your local planning authority, then match them to real demand and your site’s winter needs.
The Clock Resets on 1 January
Your 60-day limit runs by calendar year, not by season.
In England, Class BC allows a recreational campsite to operate for up to 60 days in total in each calendar year. Wales has a similar 60-day limit on ordinary land under Class BA. In a Welsh National Park, AONB or World Heritage Site, the limit is 28 days.
That reset makes winter dates worth planning. Days you use in December do not count against the following January’s allowance. A December 2026 opening and a January 2027 opening draw on separate calendar-year totals.
This is the key to a useful 60 days calendar year campsite plan. Do not treat the allowance as one continuous seasonal pot. Build a separate, realistic schedule for each year.
Check the site’s location and restrictions before you plan. England’s Class BC excludes, among other places, scheduled monuments, SSSIs, listed-building sites, safety hazard areas and military explosives storage areas. Wales also has exclusions, including Flood Zones 2 and 3 and land within 100 metres of a protected dwelling. These restrictions apply in winter too.
For a short overview of permitted development rights for campsites, start with our legal information. Check the legislation and your site’s status before relying on a right.
You File the Dates Before You Open
In England, Class BC requires written notice to your local planning authority before you begin development in each calendar year. Include a site plan with toilet and waste facilities, and state the dates the site will be in use.
In Wales, the Class BA application for a determination must include a site plan with facilities, pitch and amenity locations, highway access and the proposed use dates. Check the current local process and allow time before opening.
That makes your Class BC use dates notification part of your season plan. Choose the dates first. File the plan before opening. Keep your records aligned with it.
Do not treat the dates as a rough estimate. If you later want to change them, contact the authority and check what is needed. Do not assume that a filed calendar automatically covers new dates.
The notification also has a practical planning role. It helps you coordinate bookings, facilities, staffing, insurance and winter preparations. A well-planned temporary campsite season planner starts with dates you can actually operate.
Two Filings, One Winter
A winter block can cross the year boundary.
Say you want to open on selected weekends in December, then again in January and February. That can fit the calendar-year structure. But you need to meet the requirements for each year.
In England, submit the relevant notification before commencement in each calendar year. For a site in Flood Zone 2 or 3, the prior-approval process is also required before commencement in each calendar year. Do not use one year’s paperwork as cover for the next.
Plan each year’s dates separately. Recheck your site plan, facilities and calendar before you submit the next filing.
Where Winter Days Earn Their Place
Winter demand can be thinner than summer demand. Your field may also be free, and your new calendar-year allowance may be unused. That can make selected winter dates useful for winter campsite income or farm diversification camping in winter.
Treat market figures as signals, not promises. Group Accommodation, reporting on the Staycation Index 2026, says winter bookings rose about 5% year on year. The Campsites.co.uk all-year directory lists more than 1,300 UK sites open throughout the year. These reported figures suggest some demand exists, but they do not predict bookings for your site.
Choose dates that fit your location and audience. Consider bank holiday weekends, school half-terms, festive and New Year breaks, and selected winter weekends for stargazing. Dark skies arrive early in winter. Keep lighting low and follow the practical advice in our lighting guide.
Avoid opening on empty midweek dates just to use the allowance. Start with the dates guests are most likely to book. Check local events, access conditions and the work your team can support.
Count Days, Not Nights
Keep a dated record of each day the site is in use. Do not count only booked pitches or nights.
A day can count even if no pitches fill. Cornwall Council’s temporary campsite guidance says days can count when the site is unoccupied. Read our earlier day-count guide for more on tracking use.
Keep the filed dates, booking records and operating log together. Note cancellations, closures and changes. If the local planning authority checks your declaration against what happened on site, clear records help you explain the season.
The Winter Compliance Checklist
A winter campsite needs a winter plan. Recheck the risks before you open.
Fire
Shorter days can move cooking and campfire use earlier. Tell guests where cooking is allowed. Do not allow cooking inside tents.
If you provide wood burners in bell tents, fit carbon monoxide alarms and set a clear policy for flue clearances and use. Review the fire risk assessment for winter conditions. Check access to fire equipment if the ground freezes, manage leaf litter and keep stored firewood dry.
Keep fire points within 90 metres of every pitch. Review the campsite fire safety checklist before guests arrive.
Light
In December, darkness can arrive by mid-afternoon. Keep lighting directed and limited. Use warm lighting, 3000K or below, full cut-off fittings, shielded bollards and clear curfews.
Do not light the field like a car park to attract winter bookings. See our lighting advice and set the lighting plan before opening.
Noise
Cold, still air can carry sound. The statutory nuisance window for noise abatement warning notices runs from 11pm to 7am. Neighbours can still hear a generator at 6pm in a quiet valley.
Set an early finish for generators, music and group activity. Tell guests the rules before they arrive. An early finish is easier than an abatement notice.
Water, waste and ground
If a temporary winter site uses a mains-fed bowser or tanker, it falls outside the private-supply rules in Regulation 9. BS 8551 applies to that temporary supply. A plumbed borehole remains a private water supply under Regulation 9, whether you open in summer or winter.
Insulate taps. Mark non-potable rinsing water clearly. Check our water and facilities guide for more.
Frozen or saturated ground can put extra pressure on drainage fields. Keep greywater out of watercourses. Make sure guests can rinse the elsan point in frost.
Move pitches off saturated ground. Keep required pitch spacing and access routes clear, even when the field is muddy. In England, the 50-pitch maximum still applies.
Insurance
Check the policy’s operating season. If it covers May to September, December weekends may not be covered. Tell your insurer the true dates and ask them to confirm cover before you take bookings.
Flood Zones: File in Autumn
In England, a campsite in Flood Zone 2 or 3 needs prior approval before it begins in each calendar year. The application must include a site-specific flood risk assessment, with warning and evacuation provisions, plus any required fee.
The local planning authority must consult the Environment Agency, giving it at least 21 days to respond, and must take the Agency’s response into account. Since 9 April 2026, the determination no longer includes the previous requirement to have regard to the National Planning Policy Framework. The Environment Agency consultation and consideration of its response remain.
Do not leave the process until December if you want a January opening. The authority can take up to 56 days to determine the application. File in autumn and wait for written approval or the end of the statutory period before starting.
Our guide to Class BC flood prior approval covers the application in more detail.
Wales: 28 Days Demands Summer
Under Class BA, Welsh land outside designated protected landscapes can use the right for up to 60 days in a calendar year. Inside a National Park, AONB or World Heritage Site, the allowance is 28 days.
With only 28 days in a protected landscape, spend them when demand and rates tend to peak. Winter trading there is a luxury. Do not use scarce dates on low-season weekends unless your own booking data supports that choice.
Class BA requires the proposed dates on the site plan submitted with the application for determination. Flood Zones 2 and 3 are excluded outright. There is no Class BC-style flood prior-approval route in Wales.
For wider farm diversification and land-use options, check your site conditions and current local process before choosing dates.
Plan Your Dates, Then Join the Community
Build your calendar around the year reset. Set dates that fit demand, submit the required information before you open, and keep a clear record of every operating day.
Join the Open Sky Adventure community and sign up on our website to discuss your site and next steps.
We will happily help you, signup live now if you have an interest in joining our license agreement.