Carry on Camping: Countryside Alliance supports extension of planning rights

The Countryside Alliance welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the consultation on 'Permitted Development Rights". A successful rural economy is vital for maintaining a living and working countryside and as the countryside recovers from Covid, it is essential that there are measures in place that support rural tourism and hospitality businesses.

The changes made to Permitted Development Rights (PDR) during the Covid pandemic, which are being consulted on in this consultation, enabled pubs, cafes, restaurants or historic visitor attractions to make greater use of outdoor spaces so they could provide increased capacity as they reopened.

The Countryside Alliance was very supportive of these changes as it enabled many tourist and hospitality businesses to reopen and support the rural economy through providing additional outdoor seating or event attractions. The ability for these rural businesses to have a more flexible approach as to how they operate is to be welcomed and one that we would like to see continue as part of the post Covid recovery plan.

The Countryside Alliance would fully support the extension of this PDR to ensure that the Government continues to support the rural economy during this time of post covid recovery.

Countryside Alliance's Director for Wales, Rachel Evans, has written an open letter stating the Countryside Alliance's support for the extension of planning rights, which you can view here.