A rural worker dwelling at Daisy Mays Farm near Elsenham has won permanent planning permission after an Inspector rejected Uttlesford District Council’s case that the farm’s mobile home should remain temporary. The appeal was allowed on 6 November 2026.
Inspector S Burch granted permission for the existing mobile home to be occupied permanently as an agricultural worker’s dwelling. The farm, in the Essex countryside, keeps several types of livestock and had already secured a time-limited permission in 2020.
The rural worker dwelling decision is significant because it distinguishes a farm’s continuing need for round-the-clock animal care from questions about a business’s long-term financial prospects. The Inspector found evidence for both, notwithstanding the council’s arguments at the hearing.
Rural worker dwelling: what was being decided
Daisy Mays Farm is an established holding of approximately 8.5 hectares, around 500 metres from Elsenham. A mobile home was approved in 2020 subject to a requirement for the residential use to end in August 2023 and for the unit to be removed by November that year. The restriction was intended to enable the council to reassess the agricultural need and commercial viability of the enterprise.
The applicant later sought permanent permission. That was refused in 2023, and the latest application was also refused, leading to this section 78 appeal. Although the application description referred to retaining the mobile home, the Inspector correctly treated the development as the use of that existing home as a permanent dwelling rather than the physical retention of the structure.
An important change occurred during the appeal: Uttlesford adopted its Local Plan 2021 to 2041. Consequently, the Inspector decided the matter against the new development plan, as well as the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework. Policy DP3 permits essential rural workers’ dwellings in the open countryside where the necessary evidence is provided.
Why the farming need was accepted
The farm operates enterprises involving sheep, pigs, goats, poultry, horses and rodents. Breeding animals and young stock need attention outside normal working hours, with animals giving birth throughout the year. The council had already accepted in 2020 that on-site supervision was essential, following an independent agricultural assessment.
During the latest hearing, the council argued there was no need for someone to live permanently on the farm. The Inspector noted that no new independent agricultural assessment had been provided to contradict the earlier one, and no material change had been shown that would undermine the functional need. In fact, animal numbers had risen since 2020, strengthening the case for prompt responses to emergencies.
This was not an assumption that every livestock holding requires a home. It was a site-specific evaluation of animal welfare, the business’s established operations and the evidence of frequent out-of-hours attendance. The rural worker dwelling satisfied the essential-need limb of the new policy on the facts before the Inspector.
Accounts and viability under scrutiny
The applicant provided accounts for 2021 to 2024. The agreed annual trading profits ranged from £15,507 in 2022 to £38,034 in 2023. The council questioned whether those profits were sufficient and criticised the absence of accounts going all the way back to the business’s commencement in 2011, together with payslips and a business plan.
Inspector Burch found the profit level broadly consistent with the size and nature of the enterprise. The accounts were prepared by professional advisers and there was no substantial evidence of inaccuracies. The business had employed staff, continued trading for many years and expanded its animals and farmers’ market activity.
The Inspector said there was “no substantive justification” for requiring 15 years of accounts. The appeal had to be considered on the evidence relevant to the existing business, not on a blanket demand for historic documents. Nor was there an identified policy requirement to show that an agricultural home would itself increase output, cut costs or diversify the enterprise.
The rural worker dwelling was therefore justified by a demonstrably essential residential need and an enterprise with a credible prospect of ongoing viability. A new temporary trial period would have served little purpose for a business that had already established its operating record.
Landscape impact and planning conditions
The farm sits in open countryside, but the existing mobile home is a modest single-storey structure set back from the road and screened partly by woodland. The Inspector was satisfied that its permanent residential use would safeguard the area’s rural character and appearance, consistent with the relevant policy.
The permission was nonetheless tightly controlled. An agricultural occupancy condition restricts residents to people working, or who last worked, locally in agriculture or forestry, together with specified surviving partners and resident dependants. Permitted development rights under several householder classes and Class A of Part 2 were also removed by condition.
That means the rural worker dwelling has permanent permission for its use, but it is not an unrestricted open-market home. The conditions are a central part of why the scheme was accepted in this countryside location. There was no separate requirement for further parking details, as the Inspector considered that adequate space existed on the holding.
Practical lesson for other farm businesses
For applicants, the appeal shows the value of identifying the precise operational demands that justify someone living on site. Breeding cycles, emergencies, the actual frequency of animal care and any previous independent assessment all matter. A general assertion that living at the farm would be more convenient is unlikely to carry the same weight.
A credible set of accounts can also be persuasive without producing every financial record since the enterprise began. Here, the Inspector assessed both what the submitted figures showed and whether the council had evidenced a real concern about accuracy or future viability. The distinction between an essential need and commercial viability remains fundamental.
Our guide to rural workers’ dwellings explains the wider planning considerations. For farms with temporary permissions, this rural worker dwelling decision also highlights why the expiry of a trial period should be followed by a careful, current assessment rather than simply repeating earlier evidential demands.
The appeal decision is also available on AppealBase. Its reference is 6011922, relating to Uttlesford application UTT/26/0090/FUL, and the case is recorded on the official Planning Inspectorate appeal page.
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