Meta description: Learn how Class BA camping Wales works from 1 September 2026, including the 60-day rule, 100m buffer zone, prior approval, exclusions and a practical compliance checklist.
Hello, farmer, hospitality owner or rural landowner.
Your land may support a temporary campsite in Wales.
Start with the correct planning route.
From 1 September 2026, the new Class BA permitted development right applies under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2026, also known as WSI 2026/79.
It creates new options for land diversification.
It also creates new compliance duties.
Use this guide to check your land, plan your site and avoid preventable mistakes.
This article gives general information. Check your proposal with the relevant local planning authority before you operate.
What Class BA camping Wales allows
Class BA allows you to use land as a temporary recreational campsite.
The right also allows moveable structures that are reasonably necessary for the campsite.
The use is limited by location and time.
The 60-day rule
On eligible land outside protected landscapes, you can operate for up to:
- 60 days in total in each calendar year
The days can be split across the year.
Count every operating day.
Keep a written record.
Do not carry unused days into the next year.
The 28-day rule in protected areas
The limit changes in:
- National Parks
- National Landscapes, formerly known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- World Heritage Sites
In these areas, the limit is:
- 28 days in total in each calendar year
Check the designation before you plan your booking calendar.
Do not assume that a nearby boundary has no effect.
Use the relevant mapping tools, then confirm the position with your local planning authority.
This is one of the main differences between the 28-day rule and the new temporary campsite right.
The 100m buffer zone campsite Wales rule
The 100m buffer zone campsite Wales rule is a key Class BA restriction.
Class BA does not permit camping on land within 100 metres of a protected dwelling.
A protected dwelling means:
- A dwellinghouse occupied by someone other than the campsite owner or operator
- A flat occupied by someone other than the campsite owner or operator
The restriction applies to a neighbour’s home.
It does not apply in the same way to a dwelling occupied by the campsite owner or operator.
The only stated exception is use for a private way.
Camping is not permitted within the 100m zone.
The buffer removes permitted development rights
Do not confuse the buffer with prior approval.
Prior approval cannot remove the 100m restriction.
Prior approval cannot authorise camping inside the buffer.
If your proposed campsite sits within 100 metres of a protected dwelling, Class BA does not apply to that land.
You will normally need to consider a full planning application instead.
This point matters for farms, pubs, hotels and rural businesses.
A field may look suitable.
The access may work.
The land may be outside a protected landscape.
The 100m buffer can still remove the permitted development right.
How to plan around the buffer
Take these steps:
- Mark every neighbouring dwelling on a scaled site plan.
- Confirm whether each dwelling is occupied by someone other than the campsite owner or operator.
- Draw a 100m buffer around each protected dwelling.
- Measure the proposed pitch areas, amenities and camping spaces.
- Move every pitch outside the buffer.
- Keep access routes clear, unless the route is a private way.
- Save dated maps, measurements and photographs.
Use the widest practical margin.
Do not place part of a pitch inside the buffer.
Ask your planning adviser or local planning authority to confirm any difficult boundary.
Prior approval for a temporary campsite
The prior approval campsite process has two stages.
The first stage is an annual determination application.
You must apply before beginning the development in each calendar year.
You apply to the local planning authority for a determination on whether prior approval is required.
What to submit each year
Your application must include:
- A copy of the site plan
- Toilet and wastewater facilities
- Waste disposal facilities
- Siting of pitches and amenities
- Access details from the highway
- Dates when the site will operate
- Any required fee
Make the plan clear.
Show the field boundary.
Show the pitch layout.
Show the entrance.
Show the highway connection.
Show toilets, wastewater systems, bins and waste storage.
Add the 100m buffer.
Add relevant site designations.
Keep a copy of everything submitted.
The 28-day determination window
The local planning authority must provide a written determination within 28 days of receiving the application.
It can also notify you that the application is invalid.
You must not start operating until one of these events occurs:
- You receive written notice that prior approval is not required.
- Twenty-eight days pass without an invalidity notice or a determination.
- Prior approval is required, you submit the prior approval application and receive written approval.
Do not treat silence as approval if your application was invalid.
Record the date the authority received your application.
Use a tracked submission method.
Keep the receipt.
When prior approval is triggered
Under Class BA, prior approval is triggered mainly by traffic impacts.
It is not triggered by the 100m buffer.
The local planning authority must determine that prior approval is required where the development is likely to result in:
- A material increase in traffic, or
- A material change in the character of traffic near the site
This could apply where your proposal creates a new pattern of vehicle movements.
Examples may include:
- A narrow rural lane serving a large number of bookings
- A new entrance from a classified road
- Regular coach or minibus movements
- Traffic close to a trunk road
- A site beside a railway level crossing
- A significant increase in vehicle trips at peak times
Plan access before you submit.
Estimate guest numbers.
Estimate vehicle numbers.
Set check-in times.
Use one controlled entrance.
Provide clear parking.
Avoid roadside parking.
Show these controls on your site plan.
What happens after a traffic trigger
If the local planning authority requires prior approval, submit the further application under Class BA.
The authority may request information about impacts or risks.
It may consult:
- The trunk road highway authority
- The local highway authority
- A railway operator
- Welsh Ministers, where relevant
The authority may grant approval:
- Without conditions
- With reasonable conditions linked to transport and highways impacts
- Subject to other conditions connected to the matter being considered
Follow the approved details.
Do not change the access arrangement without checking the planning position.
Class BA exclusions checklist
Class BA does not apply to every field.
Check the exclusion list before you prepare your application.
The right does not apply:
- On a scheduled monument
- In a Special Area of Conservation
- In a Special Protection Area
- On a Ramsar site
- On a Site of Special Scientific Interest
- On the site of a listed building
- In a safety hazard area
- In a military explosives storage area
- In Flood Zone 2
- In Flood Zone 3
- Within 100 metres of a protected dwelling, except for a private way
Use the official Class BA legislation as your starting point.
Check Technical Advice Note 15 for flood information.
Ask the local planning authority about site-specific constraints.
If an exclusion applies, do not rely on Class BA.
Consider full planning permission or another lawful route.
Moveable structures only
Class BA permits moveable structures reasonably necessary for the campsite.
This does not create a right to build permanent accommodation.
Plan for temporary facilities.
Examples may include:
- Moveable toilets
- Moveable wastewater equipment
- Moveable waste storage
- Tents
- Temporary signs
- Moveable furniture
- Temporary reception equipment
Do not install permanent buildings without checking planning permission.
Do not add fixed cabins, lodges or permanent shower blocks under the assumption that Class BA covers them.
The caravan condition also matters.
Class BA does not permit the siting of caravans, except a caravan that is a motor vehicle designed or adapted for human habitation.
Check the design and use of every unit.
Use Class BA for land diversification
A compliant temporary campsite can support a wider rural business plan.
Farmers can connect camping with:
- Farm walks
- Wildlife experiences
- Guided hikes
- Nature education
- Produce sales
- Seasonal events
Pubs and hotels can connect pitches with:
- Food and drink
- Local walking routes
- Transport services
- Activity packages
- Existing guest facilities
Start small.
Use the land with care.
Protect soil, water and neighbours.
Set guest rules.
Control fires and waste.
Keep emergency access clear.
Review the site after each operating period.
Open Sky Adventure helps landowners assess options, organise compliance and create licensed camping opportunities. Read our land diversification guidance and legal information.
Your Class BA compliance checklist
Before opening, confirm each point:
- Check the land designation.
- Confirm whether the 60-day or 28-day limit applies.
- Mark all protected dwellings.
- Draw the 100m buffer.
- Keep camping areas outside the buffer.
- Check scheduled monument records.
- Check SAC, SPA, Ramsar and SSSI records.
- Check listed building constraints.
- Check safety hazard and military explosives areas.
- Check Flood Zones 2 and 3.
- Plan moveable structures only.
- Prepare the scaled site plan.
- Show toilets and wastewater facilities.
- Show waste disposal facilities.
- Show pitch and amenity locations.
- Show highway access.
- List the operating dates.
- Pay the required fee.
- Submit the annual determination application.
- Record the date of receipt.
- Wait for the written outcome or the full 28-day period.
- If prior approval is required, apply again.
- Wait for written approval.
- Keep records of operating days, guests, vehicles and waste.
Check every year.
Rules and site conditions can change.
Join Open Sky Adventure
Class BA creates a route for temporary camping in Wales.
It does not remove the need for careful site planning.
The 100m buffer can end your permitted development route.
A traffic impact can trigger prior approval.
An excluded designation can require full planning permission.
Open Sky Adventure is an industry-leading authority in licensed camping in Wales. We help farmers, hospitality owners and rural landowners assess their land, manage compliance and develop practical outdoor opportunities.
Join the Open Sky Adventure group and sign up on our website.
We will happily help you, signup live now if you have an interest in joining our license agreement.
Contact the onboarding team:
- Phone: 01766 805099
- Email: office@openskyadventure.co.uk
- Address: Rhiw Goch Inn Offices, Trawsfynydd, LL41 4UY
Start with your site address, location pin, land description and intended use.
Then check your route before you take bookings.