Meta description: Learn how Class BC camping England works in 2026, including the 60-day rule, 50-pitch limit, permitted development rights, flood-zone prior approval and farm diversification steps.
Hello, farmer, pub owner, hotel operator or rural landowner. Your unused land may support a temporary campsite.
Start with the correct legal route.
Class BC is the main permitted development right for temporary recreational campsites in England. It sits in Schedule 2, Part 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.
It was inserted on 26 July 2023.
Use this operating plan to check your land, prepare your documents and run your site within the rules.
What Class BC allows in England
Class BC allows you to use land as a recreational campsite for:
- Up to 60 days in total per calendar year
- No more than 50 pitches
- Moveable structures reasonably needed for the campsite
The 60 days do not need to run together. Split them across the year if your booking plan requires it.
Count every operating day. Do not carry unused days into the next year.
Class BC can support:
- Farm diversification camping
- Seasonal camping fields
- Pub and campsite offers
- Hotel overflow camping
- Event-related camping
- Motorhome and campervan stays
- Tent-based recreational camping
The right is not a general licence to develop a permanent holiday park. Keep the use temporary, keep the facilities moveable and keep accurate records.
Which camping units are allowed?
Class BC covers tents and motorhomes or campervans.
It does not allow ordinary towed caravans.
The legislation excludes caravans unless the caravan is used as a motor vehicle designed or adapted for human habitation. In practical terms, plan for:
- Tents
- Campervans
- Motorhomes
- Motor vehicles adapted for habitation
Do not accept touring caravans towed by separate vehicles unless you have taken separate legal advice and confirmed the position.
The main Class BC conditions
Class BC gives you a route through permitted development rights campsite UK rules. You still need to meet every condition.
1. Stay within 60 days
Operate for no more than 60 days in total during each calendar year.
Set up a simple operating calendar. Record:
- Opening dates
- Closing dates
- Weather closures
- Event dates
- Guest arrival and departure periods
Treat the 60-day limit as a hard cap.
2. Stay within 50 pitches
Provide no more than 50 pitches.
Define a pitch before you publish your offer. Mark it on your site plan. Keep your booking system linked to the same number.
Do not add extra spaces during busy weekends.
A site with 50 tent pitches is not automatically compliant if you also create extra motorhome spaces. Count the total provision carefully.
3. Provide toilets and waste disposal
Make on-site provision for campsite users.
Your plan should show:
- Toilet locations
- Wastewater arrangements
- General waste points
- Recycling points
- Servicing access
- Cleaning arrangements
- Emergency access
Match capacity to your maximum planned occupancy. Set a collection schedule before opening.
Ask your local authority about public health, drainage and waste requirements. Planning compliance does not replace other duties.
4. Notify the local planning authority each year
Notify the local planning authority in writing before you start operating in each calendar year.
Include a site plan showing:
- The campsite boundary
- Each pitch
- Site access
- Emergency access
- Toilets
- Waste disposal facilities
- Any temporary reception or welfare structure
- The dates the site will be in use
Keep a copy of the notification and proof of delivery.
The local planning authority must pass the notice to the relevant fire and rescue authority as soon as practicable, unless it is the same body.
Build this into your annual process. Do not treat last year’s notification as a permanent approval.
Flood Zone 2 and 3: when prior approval applies
Class BC changes if the proposed campsite is on land within Flood Zone 2 or Flood Zone 3.
You must obtain prior approval from the local planning authority before starting in each calendar year.
You need both:
- The annual written notification.
- The prior approval application.
Submit the application early. You cannot begin until:
- You receive written prior approval, or
- 56 days pass from the date the application was received, without the authority notifying you whether approval is granted or refused.
Do not assume that submitting the form allows you to open.
What goes in the prior approval application?
Include:
- A site-specific flood risk assessment
- Warning arrangements
- An evacuation plan
- The site plan
- Toilet and waste details
- Proposed operating dates
- Any required fee
The local planning authority must notify and consult the Environment Agency. The consultation response period must be at least 21 days.
Your flood risk assessment should explain:
- How guests receive warnings
- Who monitors flood conditions
- How you contact guests
- Where people move during an evacuation
- Which routes remain usable
- How vehicles leave the site
- Who manages the response
- How you record and review incidents
Check the Environment Agency flood map before you choose your pitches.
If only part of your land sits in Flood Zone 2 or 3, map the campsite boundary carefully. Move the proposed pitches to lower-risk land where possible. Confirm the position with the local planning authority.
England has no general 100-metre dwelling buffer
Class BC in England does not create a general 100-metre buffer from dwellings.
You do not automatically lose the permitted development right because a house sits within 100 metres of your proposed campsite.
Still check:
- Neighbour impact
- Noise
- Lighting
- Access
- Privacy
- Local planning controls
- Article 4 Directions
- Listed buildings
- SSSIs
- Scheduled monuments
- Safety hazard areas
- Military explosives storage areas
Wales is different.
Wales uses Class BA for temporary recreational campsites. Welsh rules include different conditions. A 100-metre restriction can apply around protected dwellings. Some designated Welsh landscapes can also have a 28-day limit rather than 60 days.
Do not use Welsh Class BA advice for an English site.
Read our guide to Class BC and Class BA camping rules before making a cross-border plan.
Your six-step operating plan
Step 1: Assess the land
Walk the site with a plan.
Check:
- Ground conditions
- Vehicle access
- Emergency access
- Drainage
- Water supply
- Toilets
- Waste collection
- Nearby homes
- Public rights of way
- Flood zones
- Protected sites
- Existing planning permissions
Take photographs. Mark fixed features. Record constraints.
Ask whether the land can support a safe temporary campsite without major permanent works.
Step 2: Choose a compliant model
Choose one clear operating model.
For a farm, consider a seasonal tent field or limited campervan area.
For a pub, connect pitches to food, drink and local walks. Control guest access and vehicle movement.
For a hotel, use the campsite as overflow accommodation during peak periods. Keep the campsite separate from permanent rooms and buildings.
Set the number of pitches first. Then set your operating dates.
Do not build the plan around units Class BC does not cover.
Step 3: Map flood risk
Use the Environment Agency map.
Check each field. Do not rely on a general postcode result.
If the site is in Flood Zone 1, prepare the annual notification.
If the site is in Flood Zone 2 or 3, prepare the prior approval application, flood risk assessment, warning arrangements and evacuation plan.
Allow at least 56 days before your planned opening date. Allow more time if documents need changes.
Step 4: Prepare the notification pack
Create one annual file.
Include:
- Cover letter
- Site address
- Landowner details
- Site plan
- Pitch numbers
- Toilet locations
- Waste disposal locations
- Access routes
- Emergency access
- Operating dates
- Flood information
- Prior approval documents, if needed
Send the pack to the correct local planning authority.
Keep the submitted version. Keep the receipt. Keep the decision or deemed approval evidence.
Step 5: Run the site within the limits
Use a daily checklist.
Check:
- Total days used
- Total pitches in use
- Toilets
- Waste
- Access
- Fire safety
- Guest information
- Weather
- Flood warnings
- Complaints
- Incidents
Keep your site plan current.
Train staff and contractors. Give guests clear rules. Keep fire points and emergency routes accessible.
Class BC planning rights do not remove your wider safety responsibilities. Review fire safety, public liability insurance, food service, water, sanitation and environmental duties separately.
Step 6: Review before scaling up
Do not move straight from 10 pitches to 50.
Review:
- Occupancy
- Cleaning costs
- Waste costs
- Staff time
- Guest feedback
- Neighbour concerns
- Access problems
- Weather disruption
- Flood risk
- Income per pitch
If you need more than 50 pitches, more than 60 days or permanent structures, Class BC may not be enough.
Discuss a planning application or another lawful route with a qualified planning professional.
The 28-day rule and licensed camping
The 28-day rule still appears in UK camping discussions. It is not the same as Class BC.
Class BC in England provides a specific temporary recreational campsite right of up to 60 days per calendar year, subject to its conditions.
The general 28-day permitted development rule and separate camping licence rules must be checked on their own terms. Planning permission, a site licence, an exemption certificate and membership arrangements are not interchangeable.
Read the Open Sky Adventure legal information and landowner guidance. Then obtain advice for your site.
Open Sky Adventure is the industry-leading authority on licensed camping in England. We help landowners choose a workable route, prepare an operating plan and manage the steps that support compliant outdoor use.
Class BC checklist for 2026
Before opening, confirm that you have:
- Checked the correct English planning route
- Confirmed the land is eligible
- Checked protected sites and local restrictions
- Mapped flood zones
- Set no more than 50 pitches
- Planned no more than 60 operating days
- Accepted only compliant camping units
- Provided toilets
- Provided waste disposal
- Prepared the site plan
- Notified the local planning authority
- Allowed fire and rescue information to be passed on
- Applied for prior approval if in Flood Zone 2 or 3
- Submitted a flood risk assessment if required
- Included warning and evacuation arrangements
- Allowed for the 56-day process
- Recorded all operating days
Start with the land. Check the rules. Build the documents. Open only when your route is clear.
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.