From 1 September 2026, landowners in Wales can run a temporary campsite for up to 60 days a year without full planning permission — double the old 28-day limit. It's a genuine opening for farm diversification, but the detail matters more than the headline: the extra days don't cover every kind of pitch, and there's a new paperwork step that wasn't there before.

What actually changed

The change comes from The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2026 (S.I. 2026/79), which amends the permitted development rights that let landowners use a field as a campsite for a set number of days a year without applying for planning consent. That allowance has been 28 days for a long time. From 1 September 2026 it's 60.

National Parks, National Landscapes (the renamed AONBs) and World Heritage Sites are the exception — those stay capped at 28 days. If your land sits inside one of Wales's protected landscapes, this change doesn't reach you.

The part worth reading twice: touring caravans aren't included

The extended 60-day right covers tents, campervans and motorhomes. Reporting on the order is consistent that touring caravans are excluded from the extension. If you were picturing a field of static touring caravans running for two months on the strength of this, that's not what's been granted — plan around tents and motor vehicles, not touring caravans, if you want to rely on the new 60-day window.

Other conditions attached to the extra days

  • A 100-metre buffer from any "protected building" — a dwelling not occupied by the site operator — applies to the pitches.
  • Excluded land: scheduled monuments, listed buildings, sites with safety hazards, land near military explosives storage, and Flood Zones 2 and 3.
  • Local authorities can still restrict the right where the local road network can't cope with the extra traffic.
  • A notification step is new too: operators must notify the local planning authority before opening, with a site plan and details of welfare facilities, waste arrangements and access. The council can require prior approval rather than a simple notification.

How this sits next to CL/CS pitches

This is a separate route from Certificated Location (CL) and Certified Site (CS) pitches run under the Caravan Sites Act 1968 by the Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club, which are typically capped at five units and continue exactly as before. The two schemes solve different problems: a CL/CS pitch is a small, permanent, low-key allowance; the 60-day permitted development right is about running a bigger temporary site for part of the year without needing full planning permission for it.

Why this matters for farm diversification specifically

Twenty-eight days was never much of a trial. It's barely enough to cover a single summer half-term-to-half-term stretch, let alone test whether a field actually works as a campsite before committing to the cost and process of a full planning application. Sixty days is closer to a proper season — long enough to see real demand, real turnover, and real wear on the land before deciding whether to go for permanent consent.

That's exactly the gap a lot of farm diversification sits in: land that could take tents and campervans for the summer, an owner who isn't sure it's worth a planning application until they've seen it work. A longer trial window, with a clear notification process rather than a grey area, makes that decision easier to make with real numbers behind it.

If you're setting one up

A temporary site is still a site: guests need to book, pay and know where to turn up, whether it's running for 6 weeks or 60 days. HolidayPitches has no monthly fee and no setup cost — you pay 1% per booking, only when a guest actually books — which matters more than usual here, since a temporary site by definition isn't paying for software for the months it isn't open. See how seasonal and short-run pitches work on HolidayPitches.

This article summarises S.I. 2026/79 and reporting on it; it isn't planning advice. If you're relying on the new right for a specific site, check the order itself and your local planning authority's interpretation before opening.