How to start a motorhome site in the UK: planning permission, site licences and the exemptions that matter

Let's get straight to it: if you have a field, a paddock or a yard that you "don't quite know what to do with", opening it to motorhomes can be a very smart move. The UK is Europe's third-largest motorhome market: around 16,700 new motorhomes were registered in 2025, according to the European Caravan Federation. Motorhome owners are always looking for safe, well-run places to stop, and plenty of local councils are glad when someone invests in this kind of welcome.

But it's not just a case of mowing the grass and putting up a sign. Before you spend anything, you need to know what the planning system allows on that land and which kind of site you are actually opening. Here's how it works, step by step.

1) First, decide what you're opening

In the UK there is no single "motorhome aire" category in law. The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 defines a "caravan" as any structure designed or adapted for human habitation that can be moved, "and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted" (section 29). So for the law, a motorhome or campervan is a caravan, and land where one is stationed for people to sleep in is a caravan site (section 1(4)).

In practice you have four routes:

• A small certificated site under an "exempted organisation" (Camping and Caravanning Club or Caravan and Motorhome Club): up to five units, members only, no planning permission or site licence.
• A pop-up site under the temporary permitted development rights (60 days a year in England and Wales).
• A fully licensed site with planning permission and a council site licence, open all year to anyone.
• A stopover host for a scheme such as Brit Stops, typical for pubs, farm shops and vineyards (check with your council how it applies to your land).

👉 Decide early: a five-unit certificated site and a 30-pitch licensed site are completely different projects.

2) Planning permission: your council's "traffic light"

Turning a field into a caravan site is normally a material change of use, so you need planning permission from the local planning authority (your district, borough or unitary council; in National Parks, the park authority).

What to check before you apply:

• The local plan: does it support touring sites in the countryside?
• Designations: National Parks, National Landscapes (formerly AONBs), SSSIs, listed buildings, flood zones;
• Access and highways: motorhomes are long and heavy, and a poor access is a frequent reason for refusal;
• Neighbours: noise, lighting and traffic are the usual objections.

👉 Before spending a penny: ask the council for pre-application advice. It's the real green or red light for your project.

3) The site licence: the second key

Planning permission alone does not let you open. Under the 1960 Act, the occupier of land must not allow it to be used as a caravan site without a site licence issued by the local council. Key points:

• Order of play. The council can only issue the licence if you hold planning permission for use as a caravan site that was not granted by a development order (section 3(3)), in other words a proper planning permission, not a permitted development right.
• Timing. If you already have planning permission, the council must issue the licence within two months of your application (unless you both agree in writing to a longer period).
• Conditions. Number of caravans, layout, sanitation, landscaping and so on, with regard to the government's model standards (section 5(6)). You can appeal against an unduly burdensome condition within 28 days.
• Penalties. Running a site without a licence is a criminal offence: in England the fine is up to level 5 on the standard scale (unlimited), in Wales and Scotland up to level 4.

One useful detail: land occupied by the local authority itself doesn't need a site licence (Schedule 1, paragraph 11). That's why some council-run motorhome aires exist without one.

4) The exemptions: 28 days, five units and 60 days

Schedule 1 of the 1960 Act lists the cases where no site licence is needed. The ones that matter for a landowner:

Under the planning rules (Part 5, Class A of the General Permitted Development Order 2015), these same exempt uses are also permitted development in England, so they don't need planning permission either. This is what most people mean by the "28-day rule".

Certificated sites: the most common way to start small

The Camping and Caravanning Club explains how its Certificated Sites (CS) work:

• up to 5 caravans or motorhomes at any one time, at least 6 metres apart, plus up to 10 tents if space allows;
• each unit can stay for a maximum of 28 consecutive days;
• for Club members only;
• at least half an acre, safe access, a dustbin, drinking water and a chemical disposal point (a sealed tank emptied by tanker, or direct access to the mains drains);
• the Club consults neighbours and the council, and inspects the land before certifying it and then every year.

The Caravan and Motorhome Club runs an equivalent scheme, Certificated Locations (CLs). As the Club points out, an exemption certificate does not entitle you to a site licence later: to grow beyond five units, you start planning and licensing from scratch.

The 60-day pop-up campsite (England)

Since 26 July 2023, Class BC of the GPDO lets you use land in England as a temporary recreational campsite for up to 60 days per calendar year, with up to 50 pitches. The text excludes caravans, except motor vehicles designed or adapted for habitation, so motorhomes and campervans can use the pitches. You must provide toilets and waste disposal, notify the planning authority before each season with a site plan and dates, and get prior approval in Flood Zones 2 and 3.

Watch out: Class BC is a planning right, not a site licence. Since motorhomes are caravans under the 1960 Act, a pop-up site taking motorhomes still has to sort out the licensing side: talk to your council's licensing team before you advertise a single pitch.

5) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• Scotland. The 1960 Act applies, with planning under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. In June 2025 the Scottish Government told the Scottish Parliament that no licence is needed for three caravans or fewer staying a maximum of 28 days within 12 months, and that the law didn't need changing. Certificated sites work as in England. Bear in mind the visitor levy: Edinburgh's 5% has applied since 24 July 2026, campervan pitches included.
• Wales. The 1960 Act applies here too. Since 1 June 2026, a new Class BA (introduced by the Welsh GPDO amendment of 2026) allows temporary campsites for 60 days a year (28 days in National Parks, National Landscapes and World Heritage Sites), with motorhomes allowed and other caravans excluded. Each year you must first ask the council whether prior approval is needed; the right doesn't apply in Flood Zones 2 and 3. Every visitor accommodation provider, campsite pitches included, must also join the national register by 31 March 2027.
• Northern Ireland. Sites are licensed by the district council under the Caravans Act (Northern Ireland) 1963. Councils such as Mid Ulster ask for planning permission, a layout plan, an electrical test certificate and fire equipment certificates; the fee is £10. The five-acre, three-caravan, 28-day exemption exists here too.

We go deeper into licence conditions, fire safety, guest records and tourist levies in our guide to motorhome site regulations in the UK.

6) How much space do you need?

There is no national pitch size: your licence conditions set spacing and density, and the Camping and Caravanning Club requires at least 6 metres between units. Allow for large motorhomes (some guests tow a car), plan turning space and an internal road a heavy vehicle can use in wet weather, and put the service point where vehicles can pull up without blocking anyone. Hardstanding pitches work all year: a soft field is fine in July, less so in November.

7) What to put on site

Essential

1. Chemical disposal point (often called an Elsan point) for toilet cassettes, plus a grey water drain, connected to the mains sewer (ask your water company) or to a sealed tank emptied by tanker.
2. Fresh drinking water tap (a spring or borehole needs regular water tests).
3. Waste and recycling bins.
4. Lighting on access routes and the service point.

Not on mains drainage? Check with the environment regulator (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA or NIEA) before discharging anything to ground.

Strongly recommended

Electric hook-up, drained hardstanding, a board with rules, prices and an emergency contact, and an entrance with a barrier, access control and CCTV (with the right signage under UK GDPR).

8) Electric hook-up: do it properly from day one

Electrical installations on caravan and camping parks fall under Section 708 of BS 7671 (the IET Wiring Regulations). In plain English: industrial-style 16 A sockets, individual protection for each socket, and an installation designed, tested and certified by a qualified electrician.

Pay for what you use

If you can, install posts that measure kWh and switch on only for guests who have paid: no arguments, and no money lost to the guest who runs a fan heater all night. Bear in mind that Ofgem's maximum resale price rules limit what you can charge for the electricity itself. More in electric hook-up on a motorhome site: remote management.

9) Before you open: the obligations people forget

A written fire risk assessment, guest records (names and nationality at check-in), business rates (in England, small business rate relief is 100% up to a rateable value of £12,000), VAT (pitch fees are standard-rated; registration above £90,000 of turnover), UK GDPR and public liability insurance. We cover each one in the regulations guide linked above.

10) How much can you charge per night?

It depends on location, season and services: a basic certificated site charges less than a licensed site with hardstanding, hook-up, showers and online booking. Compare like with like on the apps listed below, and for the full picture read the infrastructure costs of a motorhome site and motorhome site profitability in 2026.

11) Get listed: the directories motorhome owners use

A site that isn't on the apps doesn't exist. List yours on:

• Campercontact: over 60,000 stopovers and campsites in Europe, with a section for site managers to add their site and take bookings;
• Search for Sites: a UK-born directory with over 15,000 UK entries, including campsites, CLs and CSs, aires and pub stopovers;
• park4night: the biggest community app, with over 400,000 places;
• Brit Stops: a membership scheme with over 1,200 hosts (farm shops, pubs, vineyards) offering no-fee overnight stops to members;
• and of course your Google Business Profile.

Good photos, accurate services and up-to-date prices: reviews are your best advertising (or your worst).

12) The procedure in 8 steps

1. Choose your model: certificated site, pop-up, licensed site or stopover host.
2. Check the local plan and designations.
3. Ask the council for pre-application advice.
4. Commission a site plan: pitches, road, access, service point, drainage, hook-up.
5. Apply for planning permission (or a certificate from an exempted organisation).
6. Apply for the site licence and agree the conditions.
7. Build and certify: electrics to BS 7671, drainage approved, fire risk assessment written down.
8. Open with clear rules and prices, and get listed on the apps.

Conclusion

Starting a motorhome site in the UK isn't complicated, but it has to be done in the right order: first planning, then the site licence (or the right exemption), then the services, and finally smart management. Do it well and you turn a "dead" piece of land into a lean tourism business, with reasonable start-up costs and loyal guests who come back.

Good luck with the works… and with welcoming your first guests! 🚐✨