Catteries: do I need planning permission?

 

A commercial cattery can be run from purpose-built units beside a house, converted rural buildings or a standalone animal-boarding site. Although cats usually create less outdoor noise than boarding dogs, a cattery can still change the planning character of land through customer visits, buildings, staff, lighting, waste and the intensity of the business.

Catteries are commonly treated as sui generis for planning purposes. Creating one from a dwellinghouse, agricultural building, stable, store or other use can therefore require planning permission for a material change of use, as well as permission for new buildings or external works.

A cattery planning permission and a cat boarding licence are separate legal requirements. You may need both before opening.

 

Can I run a cattery from home?

 

There is no fixed planning rule saying that a certain number of cats automatically changes a house from residential use. The question is whether the business materially changes the character of the property.

Relevant factors include the number and size of cat units, the amount of garden or outbuilding space used, customer drop-offs and collections, staff, signs, lighting, waste storage and the overall relationship between the cattery and the home. A genuinely small activity may remain ancillary to the dwellinghouse, while a purpose-built commercial operation can become a mixed or separate planning use.

See our wider guide to running a business from home.

 

Converting a building into a cattery

 

A barn, garage or stable does not become a cattery simply through internal fit-out. If its lawful use is materially different, the change of use itself needs to be considered. New cat units, covered runs, service buildings, ventilation, parking, paths, drainage and lighting may also be development.

An agricultural building does not have a general permitted development right to become a cattery merely because the proposal provides rural diversification. The business may have a good countryside policy case, but that is different from being permitted development.

 

Are catteries noisy?

 

Catteries are generally different from boarding kennels acoustically. Cats do not usually create the same repeated outdoor barking, and the planning impact can therefore be lower. That does not mean noise can always be ignored.

Vocal cats, doors, ventilation equipment, customer arrivals and staff activity may still affect neighbours, particularly where units are close to a boundary. The design should place the most active service areas away from nearby homes and avoid creating unnecessary late-evening activity.

If there is a genuine noise concern, our guide to noise in planning applications explains the evidence councils may expect.

 

Cat waste, litter and commercial waste

 

A boarding cattery can generate significant quantities of used cat litter, faeces, food waste and contaminated bedding. These are operational matters which should be thought through before the site layout is fixed.

Waste arising from a commercial business is subject to the waste duty of care. The application or management plan should identify secure waste storage, collection frequency and how bins are kept away from neighbours and animal accommodation. Poor storage can create odour, flies and vermin even where the cats themselves cause little disturbance.

Cleaning water and disinfectants also need a suitable drainage arrangement. Dirty wash-down water should not simply be allowed to run into a ditch, pond or watercourse.

 

Traffic and customer collections

 

Catteries tend to have less frequent daily movement than dog day care, but arrivals and collections can still cluster around weekends, school holidays and morning or evening periods. A rural cattery should show safe access, parking and turning so customers are not reversing onto a road or waiting in the highway.

If the cattery forms part of an existing farm or rural business, the council may look at the additional traffic rather than only the total number of spaces shown on a plan.

 

Do catteries need a licence?

 

In England, commercial cat boarding is a licensable animal activity under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. The council must be satisfied that the premises and operation meet the statutory welfare conditions.

The licensing standards affect matters such as cat units, isolation facilities, cleaning, disease control and records. That makes it sensible to consider licensing requirements before submitting planning drawings; otherwise a planning-approved layout may need redesigning before it can be licensed.

Planning and licensing remain separate. A licence does not regularise an unauthorised planning use, and a planning permission does not guarantee a boarding licence.

 

Catteries in the countryside or Green Belt

 

A countryside location can suit a cattery because it may provide space and separation from neighbours. Rural economic policies can support appropriate businesses and the reuse of suitable buildings, but access, landscape character and the amount of new development still matter.

Where the site is in the Green Belt, any material change of use and new buildings or structures must be considered against national Green Belt policy. Reusing an existing building may reduce visual impact, but new runs, parking and service buildings still form part of the overall proposal.

 

Does a cattery justify a rural worker’s dwelling?

 

Do not assume that operating a cattery automatically creates a planning need for somebody to live on the site. In APP/C1625/W/24/3352889 at Elm Farm Barns, Coaley, decided on 21st February 2025, the Inspector dismissed a proposal for a cattery together with a mobile home for a rural worker. On the evidence in that case, a cattery was not shown to require an open-countryside location, and the licensing guidance did not establish that somebody had to live on site in order for the cattery to operate.

That does not mean a worker’s dwelling can never be justified for an animal business. It means the functional need has to be demonstrated from the actual operation rather than assumed from the business label. If residential accommodation is part of the proposal, address the need for it separately and with evidence.

 

What should a cattery application include?

 

• maximum number of cats and cat units
• operating and customer collection hours
• staff numbers
• layout and construction of cat units and service areas
• isolation accommodation where relevant
• parking, access and turning
• waste and used-litter storage
• foul drainage and cleaning arrangements
• ventilation and any mechanical plant
• lighting and landscaping
• relationship with nearby homes

 

Relevant legislation and guidance

 

• Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55
• Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, as amended
• Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018
• GOV.UK: boarding for cats or dogs licence
• Waste duty of care: code of practice

Other Common Projects

 

 

 

Cattery Planning Permission Page Updated: 2nd September 2026