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Class B: temporary use of land
Class B of Part 4 is the familiar temporary use of land right. It allows land to be used for another purpose for up to 28 days in total in a calendar year, with a lower limit of 14 days for markets and motor car or motorcycle racing and practising for those activities.
The right can also cover moveable structures needed for the temporary use. It applies to land, not a building or land within the curtilage of a building, and the exclusions below matter just as much as the 28-day headline.
Need help with permitted development?
Permitted development can avoid a full planning application, but only if the right applies and every relevant limit and condition is met. Planning Geek can check the planning history, Article 4 directions and other restrictions, and help with a lawful development certificate or prior approval where needed.
How the 28-day allowance works
The 28 days are a total annual allowance, not a requirement for one continuous 28-day period. Markets and motor sport activities can use no more than 14 of those days in total.
Do not assume that dividing a field on a plan automatically creates several separate 28-day allowances. The identity and extent of the relevant land can be fact-sensitive, particularly where activities form one planning unit.
Camping and festivals
Class B can no longer be used for an ordinary recreational campsite. Since 26th July 2024, camping under Class B is permitted only where it is in connection with a festival. The separate Class BC right is the normal Part 4 route for a temporary recreational campsite.
Where camping is connected with a festival under Class B, a caravan can only be sited where it is a motor vehicle designed or adapted for human habitation, such as a motorhome or campervan.
Other Class B exclusions
- The land cannot be a building or land within the curtilage of a building
- The use of the land cannot be for the siting of any caravan, except a motor vehicle designed or adapted for human habitation which is sited in connection with a festival
- On a SSSI, the right does not cover motor sport, clay pigeon shooting or a war game
- The right cannot be used for the display of an advertisement
There is no Class B planning application or prior approval process. Other permissions, licences or notices may still be needed depending on the event or activity.
Can Class B be used for commercial filmmaking?
Yes, potentially. When the GPDO was originally introduced in 2015, Class B could not be used for development falling within Class E commercial filmmaking. That restriction was removed on 6th April 2016.
Commercial filmmaking may therefore benefit from the Class B temporary use right where the development remains within its 28-day annual limit and satisfies the other Class B restrictions. This can be useful for shorter location shoots, particularly where the more specific Class E filmmaking right is unavailable.
There are two particularly important traps for productions. First, Class B does not apply where the land in question is a building or is within the curtilage of a building. Secondly, it cannot be used for the siting of any caravan, except for the narrow festival exception set out above.
For GPDO purposes, a caravan takes the statutory meaning from section 29 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, read with section 13 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968. Broadly, the question is whether the unit is a structure designed or adapted for human habitation and has the necessary quality of mobility. A production unit does not cease to be a caravan simply because nobody sleeps in it or because it is being used as a green room, welfare unit or office. Equally, not every equipment, camera, grip, generator or office trailer will necessarily be a caravan: its actual design, adaptation and mobility matter.
See the Planning Geek case-law summaries of Wyre Forest, Carter and Bury for the statutory definition, mobility test and evidential requirements.
This distinction can be critical at a film unit base. If a proposed production trailer falls within the statutory caravan definition, Class B will not authorise its siting even where the filming itself is within 28 days. The separate Class E right does not contain the same express caravan exclusion, although Class E has its own restrictions, including a prohibition on using the land for overnight accommodation.
Our filming planning section covers the wider location assessment, including film unit bases and fields and woodland.
For more detail see our caravan planning guide, 28-day rule and caravans guide and guide to when a caravan can also raise building questions.
Planning Geek’s Planning Review and Appraisal service can check proposed filming sites, temporary structures and production units before a location is committed.
Fees and appeals
There is no Class B planning application or prior approval fee because the right operates automatically where all of its limits are met. A lawful development certificate can be useful where the position is disputed and that application carries a fee, shown on our planning fees page. If Class B is unavailable and a planning application is refused, the usual appeal route may be available.
Relevant legislation
Class B – temporary use of land
Permitted development
B. The use of any land for any purpose for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year, of which not more than 14 days in total may be for the purposes of—
(a) the holding of a market;
(b) motor car and motorcycle racing including trials of speed, and practising for these activities,
and the provision on the land of any moveable structure for the purposes of the permitted use.
Development not permitted
B.1 Development is not permitted by Class B if—
(b) the land in question is a building or is within the curtilage of a building;
(c) the use of the land is for the siting of any caravan except a caravan which—
(i) is a motor vehicle designed or adapted for human habitation; and
(ii) is sited on the land in connection with a festival;
(d) the land is, or is within, a site of special scientific interest and the use of the land is for—
(i) motor car and motorcycle racing including trials of speed or other motor sports, and practising for these activities;
(ii) clay pigeon shooting; or
(iii) any war game;
(e) the use of the land is for the display of an advertisement; or
(f) the use of land is for camping, except when in connection with a festival.
Class B Temporary Use Of Land Page Updated: 29th September 2026