Fair Barn House
WDA strategically navigated evolving planning policy to transform a ruin into a barn, and ultimately into a new rural home.
In 2019, planning approval was granted for the construction of an agricultural barn in the rural outskirts of Milborne St Andrew in Dorset. Rather than relying on agricultural permitted development rights (PDR) under the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), the project team had to secure full planning permission, due to its close proximity a classified road—a route that would prove to be strategically valuable in the years to come.
Construction of the barn was completed in 2020, designed with both current agricultural utility and long-term adaptability in mind. By 2024, changes to national planning legislation paved the way for a significant transformation in the building’s use.
Benefits of full planning permission over PDR
The application for full planning permission rather than proceed under the agricultural permitted development route offered several advantages..
- Greater design flexibility
- A clearer planning history
- Stronger foundation for future applications
This choice provided a robust framework to support any future change-of-use applications, which is not always possible under agricultural PDR.
Class Q barn conversion
In 2024, the UK government introduced amendments to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015, significantly expanding the scope of Class Q permitted development rights. These revisions allowed for:
- A broader range of buildings to qualify for change of use
- More generous conversion thresholds
- Shortened timelines for eligibility
This shift meant that buildings with a valid planning history, particularly those not built under PDR, could now be eligible for conversion in a much shorter timeframe.
Accelerated change of use approval
Thanks to the combination of early strategic planning and the updated legal framework, the Local Authority was able to approve a change of use application for the barn within just five years of construction. Traditionally, such a conversion under Class Q would require a building to have been in agricultural use for at least 10 years before becoming eligible.
This effectively halved the waiting period, allowing the landowner to move forward with plans ahead of schedule, creating an attractive 2 bed rural home.
Take a look at our original project on this site, A new agricultural barn on the footprint of a long since demolished building
