Hotel Campsites 2026: The Class BC Playbook for Hotel Grounds

Plan a pop-up campsite on hotel grounds in England under Class BC, and check the key limits, notices and costs.

Hello, hotel owners and managers. You can use Class BC to plan a temporary tent campsite on qualifying hotel land in England. Start with the site, the dates and the rules.

What Class BC does for hotels

Class BC sits in Schedule 2, Part 4 of the General Permitted Development Order. It came into force on 26 July 2023.

It allows the use of any land as a recreational campsite for up to 60 days in total in a calendar year. It allows up to 50 pitches and moveable structures reasonably necessary for the campsite.

There is no requirement for the land to be agricultural, part of a farm, or linked to a pub. Hotel gardens, paddocks and overflow land can fall within the right, if the site meets the conditions and no exclusion applies.

This is a specific route for hotel grounds camping permitted development. It is not blanket approval for every hotel campsite. Check the land, dates, pitch count and local restrictions before you advertise.

Also check the separate campsite site-licensing position. Class BC is a planning right. It does not, by itself, give you a hotel campsite licence exemption. Confirm any site-licensing duty or valid exemption route with the relevant authority.

For planning information, see Open Sky Adventure’s legal guidance.

The 60-day and 50-pitch arithmetic for a hotel season

Class BC gives you a total of 60 days in each calendar year. It does not give you 60 days for each field, each pitch or each booking block.

Map your proposed dates across the full season. Include every date when the land is in use as a campsite. A short booking period still uses the relevant dates. Keep a record of the dates you actually operate, then compare it with the dates in your annual notice.

You can choose how to use the days. For example, you could use a short summer run, split the days around busy weekends, or choose a longer continuous season. Keep the combined total within 60 days.

The cap is 50 pitches. Set the layout before you take bookings, and keep the number within the limit. Count all pitches in the Class BC campsite, not just the pitches occupied on a quiet night.

Class BC allows tents and moveable structures reasonably needed for the campsite. It does not allow caravans, except campervans that are motor vehicles designed or adapted for human habitation. Do not assume that tourer caravans or glamping pods fit the right. A pod may count as a caravan, so check its status before adding it.

The four conditions: a hotel checklist

Meet each condition before guests arrive.

1. Provide toilets and waste disposal on site.
   The site plan must show where these facilities are. You may be able to use hotel facilities, but show them on the plan and make sure campers can reach them during their stay.

2. Notify the local planning authority before starting each calendar year.
   Send written notice before the campsite use begins. Include a site plan with the toilet and waste-disposal details, and list the dates when the site will be in use. Submit a fresh notice before use in each calendar year.

3. Allow the authority to share the notice with the fire and rescue service.
   The local planning authority must pass the notice to the relevant fire and rescue authority as soon as practicable. Build fire access into your layout and guest instructions.

4. Get prior approval for land in Flood Zone 2 or 3.
   Apply before starting in each calendar year. Include a site-specific flood-risk assessment with warning and evacuation arrangements, and pay any required fee. The authority must consult the Environment Agency, with at least 21 days for its response, and must take that response into account. The process has a 56-day decision period. Do not open before written approval or before the statutory 56-day period has expired without a decision. Check the current Class BC rules before you submit.

Since 9 April 2026, the Class BC flood decision no longer includes the former reference to the National Planning Policy Framework. The Environment Agency response remains central to the authority’s decision.

The listed-building trap

Class BC does not permit development on the site of a listed building. This matters for hotels, where the hotel itself may be listed.

Check the listed-building status and the extent of the site before you choose a campsite area. Do not assume the whole garden or paddock is covered, or that a field is clear of the restriction because it sits behind the hotel. Confirm the boundary and planning position with your local planning authority.

Class BC also excludes land on a scheduled monument or Site of Special Scientific Interest, and land in a safety hazard area or military explosives storage area. Screen the site for each exclusion before you spend money on pitches, toilets or signs.

Licensing the field: guests, hot drinks and alcohol

Planning permission and alcohol licensing are separate. Section 136 of the Licensing Act 2003 makes it an offence to carry on a licensable activity without the required authorisation. Alcohol sales in the field need the hotel premises licence to cover that area, or a Temporary Event Notice (TEN).

To extend the hotel licence, apply to vary it so the licensed area includes the camping field. Check the premises licence plan. If you use a TEN instead, each event can cover up to 499 people, last no more than 168 hours, and needs 21 days’ notice. A premises can use up to 15 TENs per calendar year; a personal licence holder can give up to five.

There is a narrower exemption for late-night refreshment. Under Schedule 2, paragraph 3 of the Licensing Act, hot food or hot drink supplied between 11pm and 5am can be exempt where only qualifying overnight guests and other specified people are admitted or supplied. The law treats a camping site as premises comparable to a hotel for this purpose.

Keep the field service for overnight campers only if you rely on that exemption. Open the area to the public, and the exemption may not apply. It does not cover alcohol.

The sign shown says “Guests only after 9pm”. Treat that as an access cue, not a legal cutoff. The late-night refreshment rules apply from 11pm to 5am. Check the licence before serving alcohol at any time.

VAT: hotel long-stay relief does not apply to tent pitches

Apply VAT rules to the camping separately from hotel rooms. HMRC says tent pitches are standard-rated at 20%, and there is no reduced-value rule for tents or tent pitches. The temporary 5% hospitality rate ended on 31 March 2022.

A hotel guest who stays for more than 28 consecutive days may qualify for the hotel reduced-value rule from day 29. That rule does not apply to holiday accommodation. A tent pitch on hotel grounds does not gain the hotel’s long-stay VAT treatment, even if a camper stays for more than 28 days.

Read the latest HMRC VAT Notice 709/3. Check how you charge for the pitch and any related facilities with your VAT adviser.

Business rates: check the facts

The hotel is already a business-rates property. Pitches within its grounds may be assessed as part of the hotel property, or the camping operation may be assessed separately if it becomes substantial or is let separately.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) decides based on the facts. Ask the VOA how it will treat your proposed operation. Do not assume that a farm-diversification rates waiver applies to a hotel.

Wales: use the Welsh route

Class BC is for England. In Wales, hotel grounds follow Class BA, not a hotel-specific permitted development right.

Class BA allows up to 60 days in a calendar year on ordinary land, but the limit is 28 days in a National Park, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or World Heritage Site. It also has a 100-metre buffer around a protected dwelling. A hotel’s own building is not a protected dwelling for this rule, and guest rooms are not dwellings.

Check the Welsh conditions and exclusions before you plan dates. Read the Welsh 2026 Order rather than applying England’s Class BC checklist to a Welsh site.

Hotel campsite launch checklist

A pop-up campsite can add a new way for guests to stay on your grounds. Check each permission before you open, keep the dates and records clear, and plan the service around the limits.

Visit Unlock Your Land and Potential, then join the Open Sky Adventure community and sign up on our website.

We will happily help you, signup live now if you have an interest in joining our license agreement.