Building a New Home in the Countryside: Paragraph 79 Guide

special dispensation due to outstanding design meant that this home was granted planning permission to be built in the countryside
This home was given special dispensation due to its outstanding design and was therefore granted planning permission to be built in the countryside (Image credit: Seymour-Smith Architects)

Building a new home in the countryside is a dream for many but the planning laws make it a very difficult venture to pursue. However, there is an exception cause in the planning law that can offer a glimmer of hope in making building in a rural area a reality.

Since 1997, Planning Policy Guidance 7 (PPG7) along with its successors, firstly Planning Policy Statement 7 (PPS7) and now, since 2012, Paragraph 55 (now known as Paragraph 79) of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), do precisely that. They offer an exemption from all planning permission constraints for individual houses that meet specific criteria, not least of all that they should be architecturally outstanding.

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Ken Dijksman

Ken, a former planning officer, is an experienced planning consultant with over three decades of experience helping self builders, renovators and developers achieving planning permission. He set up his own consultancy, Dijksman Planning LLP, in 2005. He is also the author of The Planning Game, How to Play the System and Win Planning Consent: An Insider's Guide to Planning Permission for Newbuilds and Extensions.