Vanman - I don't know about that but I'll try out my Google-fu. Don't want to sound like a broken record but what a brilliant thread. I have two things to say. One is a mojo booster for you all, and one is a question which goes down the livestock route. Firstly, my mum and her partner bought a piece of land about 13 years ago on a 99 year lease. The canal runs though it and they made a mooring for a narrow boat which they lived on paying mooring fee's/tax etc. They also had horses which they built a stable block for. 13 years on they now have a very successful small holding there, and the stable has been completely converted into a house (but only on the inside!!). As they boat is still registered as their address, they have fallen under the radar so far, and they’re not long from a right to change of use. Maybe this will make some cogs turn for some people.
My question is from a slightly different angle to the rest of you. I love the outdoors, but I am a musician who needs electricity and a recording studio! For these reasons, I want to buy a large bit of land and apply for PP to build one house. Like the rest of you, my deposit amounts whatever I can spare from my monthly pay check, so it's on a very tight budget. Now, I've seen a plot of land I REALLY like the look of. Its 8 acres, £30K, but its ancient woodland (dating back to the 1700’s)- home to some rare species including some rare breed kestrels a family of deer and a white stag. I'm falling in love with the idea, but what are the chances of me being able to turn it into a nature reserve or protected woods, and applying for PP to build a keepers lodge in the form of a three bed house? Would making it a reserve give me more clout to apply for PP as carers of the land, or would it make them less likely to allow anything at all to happen with the land?
Thanks in advance.