“Used solely for an agricultural use ……. when it was last in use”

A question was recently raised by a reader, in which they asked about the position where prior approval has been given for permitted development under Class Q, but (before the PD is carried out) the building is sold off separately, thus separating it from the established agricultural holding.

The relevant wording is to be found in paragraph Q.1(a) of Class Q, which lists development that is not permitted by Class Q. This requires the position to be examined on the qualifying date (20 March 2013). If the building was in agricultural use on that date, it qualifies. It also qualifies if it was not in agricultural use on that date, but was in agricultural use when it was last used (before that date). Provided the building has not subsequently been used for any non-agricultural use, it will still qualify for PD under Class Q. It seems to me that there is no requirement that the building must have remained a part of an established agricultural unit after 20 March 2013, so if it has subsequently been sold off and separated from its ‘parent’ agricultural unit after that date, this would not in itself appear to affect the position in any way, provided that the building has not been put to a non-agricultural use at any time since it ceased to be used for agriculture.

That, at least, is the orthodox interpretation of the legislation, but it has raised an interesting point that had not previously occurred to me. The requirement that an agricultural use must have been the last use of the building is set out only in sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph Q.1(a), which relates to a building that was in agricultural use before 20 March 2013 but was not in use on that date. So if the agricultural use had ceased before 20 March 2013, then the building must not have been used at any time subsequently for any other use. However, under paragraph Q.1(a)(i), a building would qualify for PD under Class Q if it was used solely for an agricultural use as part of an established agricultural on 20 March 2013, but on re-reading paragraph Q.1(a) it appears that the prohibition against the building having been used at any time subsequently for any other use does not apply in that event. The proviso as to the agricultural use being its last use is mentioned only in paragraph Q.1(a)(ii), and would therefore seem to relate solely to a building that had ceased to be in agricultural use before 20 March 2013.

Paragraph Q.1(a) seems in fact to be capable of being interpreted as referring only to the use of the building up to the qualifying date. It must either have been in agricultural use on that date, or (if it was not in agricultural use on that date) it must have been in agricultural use when it was last in use (before that date). On this reading of the legislation, it is irrelevant what use, if any, the building has had at any date after 20 March 2013.

Let me make it absolutely clear that this is not the interpretation of the legislation that has come to be accepted, nor is it the interpretation that I have myself advanced in this blog and in A Practical Guide to Permitted Changes of Use. It is in fact unlikely that the interpretation of paragraph Q.1(a) that I have tentatively put forward above can ever have been intended. But it is an intriguing possibility, nevertheless.

© MARTIN H GOODALL