Apply for a Freedom Camping Club Caravan
or Camping Site Exemption
Please note that site visit schedules are
fully booked until spring
2025 . New dates have yet to be determined for 2025. Why apply
for an exemption
Caravan and camping site exemptions
are an easy and flexible method of operating a caravan and/or
camping site without the need to apply for a license and planning
approval from your Local Planning Authority.
An exemption
allows flexibility to grow and adapt to new markets easily. No rigid
planning approval or restrictive conditions, switch units from
touring caravans to glamping pods without new applications, mix and
match option to suit you and the club.
You get the benefit and
support of an established and experienced organisation that can help
deal with planning issues, complaints and queries, marketing and
promoting your new site and offer discounts on essential services
and more...
Extend your existing pop up site to all year use
or additional capacity, offer diverse and flexible options for
glamping, wild camping and more... The club supports many type of
caravan and tent units read our movable
dwelling guidelines for more information.
Access to a
34,000+ members customer base to jumpstart your business. Co-operate
and contribute in an established business community with companies
such as Pitchup, Campsites.co.uk, Sykes cottages, Air BnB and more
than 400 other Freedom Camping Club certified sites.
Who should apply for an exemption
Whether your plans
are to run a small 5 van site, a 100 pitch camping site, a single
shepherds hut or promote a new and emerging recreational market, we
have an option to help you.
The club is looking for
applicants with a long term view of offering a value and quality
service. You may want to start small and invest in facilities over
time or get everything in place from the start. We want to see a
commitment to proving a quality service to members and encouraging non
members to join the club.
We don't want applicant who want
to get the most from offering the least. If you can't commit 100% of
your energy to the site, there may be more suitable options, such as
Class BC of Part 4 permitted development for you.
What you need to know
The Club is a recreational
organisation with special legal rights to enable the club to promote
and encourage camping and caravanning. This is a different option to
other permitted development rights or a Local Authority
license/planning approval. Each scheme has benefits and drawback
that will suit your needs, please read our
UK campsite Law guide to help you
decide which option is best for you.
If you apply and are
accepted for a Club exemption you will need to abide by the
Clubs
terms and conditions.
What happens next
Every proposed site is assessed for suitability, desirability,
safety and impact. This process takes time and effort to complete
and we require your full co-operation to ensure our decision is the
correct one. Other organisation may offer a quick turn around or a
higher probability of acceptance. We can not support you if we have
made mistakes or have not accounted for aspect that are latter
challenged by a third party. Our process is thorough and time
consuming, current decision times are around 6-12 weeks from the
date of your site inspection.
Complete the online application
fully, provide all the information requested in as much detail as
possible. Be honest and frank, early identification of issues saves
time, effort and costs. Some issues may result in an automatic
refusal, where other may require some workarounds or special
conditions, knowing these early helps to tailor our approach.
Select a schedule for a site inspection. We can only offer a
limited number of appointments in each area. You choose from a list
of planned visits to your area and once we are close to the dates we
will contact you to confirm a date and time for a site inspection.
Once we have inspected your proposed site we will begin the
formal assessment process. We will assess impact in many areas and
determine if the proposed site is suitable. We will also consult
with Local Planning Authorities, any local resident who may be
impacted and any other relevant party such as Highways England,
Natural England, Historic England, The Environment Agency and
others. ( or Welsh equivalent bodies ).
Aspects considered -
including but not limited to:
- Highway safety and amenity -
Stopping sight distances, visibility splays, highway capacities
- Environmental impact - Flood risk,
nutrient pollution, drinking water safeguarding
Historic impact -
Scheduled monuments, World heritage sites - Conservation impact -
AONB visual amenity, SSSI impact, SAC/SAC/Ramsar impact
- Ecological
impact - Protected species, Wildlife habitats
- Land designations
- Green belt, Area of Great Landscape Value
- Civil obligation -
Restrictive covenants, easements
- Community impact - Local
residents impact, local amenities impact
- Sustainability- public
transport, local shops, public houses, local recreational activities
- Desirability and appeal - Aesthetic value, local attractions, site
amenity
- Supervision
and management - emergency access, out of hours supervision,
conflict resolution
- Regulatory compliance - Permitted
development, article 4 directions, planning history
- The site inspection will take around 11/2 hours.
- The site assessment may take 6-12 weeks
- Site inspection and assessment cost £180.
Once complete if your site is deemed suitable we will make a
formal offer of exemption, this may include conditions and require
further evidence of facilities and/or agreements to undertake
actions.
We may also offer
- Informal planning advice
- Marketing advice
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