Beekeeping Unit

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Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
791
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59
Location
East Yorkshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
16
I am applying for planning permission for a house and either an adjoining or attached storage and processing unit for my beekeeping. I currently have around 20 hives and my equipment is stored in a large spare room at home, a double garage, two sheds and a caravan. All taking up a large amount of space and that is outside the need for processing the honey etc.
I am wondering if anyone has any drawings or suggestions on a layout that might help my application. Or a summary of exactly what one would have in such a unit. I would hate to miss any thing out!
 
My wooden building has an insulated part for extracting and jarring up honey which has wipe down walls which leads off the larger part where I store things and make stuff. The building is bee proof - although the odd was gets in but I don't know how. I have a fridge with a heater in in as a warming cabinet and a chest freezer for freezing supers to kill wax moth. Pressure is building to put christmas stuff in the freezer which I will have to resist yet again! A 16 A supply isn't enough if I want to warm part of the building and also heat up water for making syrup. (I've been banned from the kitchen as I get either sugar syrup or honey in unexpected places). Bees fly to the window so you need one that ideally can be opened easily to let them out and where the catch doesn't 'ping' open during the day and allow bees in when you're at work. I tried a WBC bee escape above a window as an automatic device but wasps learned to get in, the buggers.
 
The critical bit is you say you currently have 20 hives.

If you intend expanding then you need to build to that constraint. There's utterly no point in building for 20 if you intend 200.

I found that a lock-up and a building 14 x 21 worked fine for 80.

PH
 
I am applying for planning permission for a house and either an adjoining or attached storage and processing unit for my beekeeping./QUOTE]

Do you have a chance of getting planning permission for the dwelling without the beekeeping element? Bees won't qualify for building an Ag Workers Dwelling even with hundreds of colonies.
 
Processing & storage unit

I am applying for planning permission for a house and either an adjoining or attached storage and processing unit for my beekeeping./QUOTE]

Do you have a chance of getting planning permission for the dwelling without the beekeeping element? Bees won't qualify for building an Ag Workers Dwelling even with hundreds of colonies.
Do you have a chance of getting planning permission for the dwelling without the beekeeping element? Nope!
The proposed dwelling will be zero carbon, but on green belt and in a conservation area! So little chance I think of planning permission, but I've nothing to lose other than a few grand and upsetting the neighbours. Nothing ventured etc and if i don't apply now, I never will. My planning consultant will be putting up eco and increased bio-diversity arguments including an acre offering of wild flower meadow, as well as supporting a local business (my honey sales). Also some possible changes to the local plan in 2020 encouraging more house building in villages where no building land readily available.

Part of my scheme is to add on a 'Bee Keeping Unit' hence my initial posting looking for room usage ideas, that I can use. (I cant go down the agricultural workers dwelling route, bees are livestock, as it restricts marketability and anyway its too high a threshold for just 20 hives)

These are my rooms usage suggestions so far...
Office
Wash/ Changing room
Toilet
Hive Storage area
Extraction Room
Warming & Cooling room
Honey Jarring & Labelling & boxing up area
Equipment/Tools Storage
Queen Breeding area
Wax extraction

Hopefully with Parish & some Villagers support,the planners /councillors may be impressed with the development proposal & take a favourable view!
 
In our Parish the Local Plan has just been approved by a HM Gov. Inspector and is set in stone for at least 5 yrs. We've already identified building plots for the next 5 yrs which is the requirement of HM Gov. If your Parish is in the same position you will seriously struggle (at great expense going to appeal etc.) to get around the "Plan". Try to get your planning consultant to work on a no win no fee basis.
They won't, but they could string you along and keep taking more and more of your cash. Building on a "Green Field Site" is never going to be easy.

Good Luck.
 
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Apply for outline planning permission first
Could save you a fortune
Don't waste your money on consultants to put in your application
Google Cornwall Council Planing TREVIGRO applicant Darby for a bee farm
Failed miserably

My cousin Jim lives there

Good Luck
 
There is a new route possible now "Planning in Principle". I think it's less painful in terms of finance and detail than outline and you could establish whether you have a cat in hells chance or not.
 
Nope!

The proposed dwelling will be zero carbon, but on green belt and in a conservation area! So little chance I think of planning permission, ...


Can’t you ask your architect to include it as part of the house? The shed doesn’t have to be separate from the house, and you can call it something like ‘studio’ it ‘work room’.
 
Can’t you ask your architect to include it as part of the house? The shed doesn’t have to be separate from the house, and you can call it something like ‘studio’ it ‘work room’.
Good point and thanks for replies. I am attaching thebuilding to the planned property with it titled either 'Honey Processing and Storage unit' or 'Apiary Unit'. Any other suggestions welcome!
 
Just tell them you are building a garage..i did that a good few years ago and when it is finished you can do what ever you want inside of it..the double garage i built has never had a car inside which is my workshop and storage place for tools and hive parts..
 
In our Parish the Local Plan has just been approved by a HM Gov. Inspector and is set in stone for at least 5 yrs. We've already identified building plots for the next 5 yrs which is the requirement of HM Gov. If your Parish is in the same position you will seriously struggle (at great expense going to appeal etc.) to get around the "Plan". Try to get your planning consultant to work on a no win no fee basis.
They won't, but they could string you along and keep taking more and more of your cash. Building on a "Green Field Site" is never going to be easy.

Good Luck.

Local plans are going to be more and more disputed as developers want to find land to build on and some have already been ignored.
http://www.laurenceassociates.co.uk/projects/planning-appeal-140-new-homes-Quintrell-Downs
S

PS The developer is I believe acting on behalf of The Duchy of Cornwall
 
Just tell them you are building a garage..i did that a good few years ago and when it is finished you can do what ever you want inside of it..the double garage i built has never had a car inside which is my workshop and storage place for tools and hive parts..

Millets suggestion is eminently sensible. Or call it a play room, or studio as someone else suggested. ERYC planners can be a real pain especially with anything slightly outside their own comfort zone.
Hopefully you won't encounter anything remotely related to flood risk as that can be another can of worms best left unopened.
 
Millets suggestion is eminently sensible. Or call it a play room, or studio as someone else suggested. ERYC planners can be a real pain especially with anything slightly outside their own comfort zone.
Not just that, planners can get very twitchy if something suggests to them that it is a commercial building rather than domestic - it's a different set of regs and effects road access and a whole lot more (it's easier to tell them after)
 
Good point and thanks for replies. I am attaching thebuilding to the planned property with it titled either 'Honey Processing and Storage unit' or 'Apiary Unit'. Any other suggestions welcome!

Don't specify its use. Utility room or store room is fine. If you're too specific, you'll be tied down.
 
If your council has not built enough homes, as set by the govt, then it's easier to get permission. And if the planning policy is old and out of date, it should be easier too, especially if the National Planning Policy Framework conflicts with the outdated council policy as the NPPF wins. Obviously the council does not want to set a precident for other builds so you need to find some unique angle to go for, and you might be lucky with bees. A planning consultant may well be worth the money. And you can always withdraw the application if you expect to be refused so you don't have a refusal against you - I understand that it's then easier to apply again.
 
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If your council has not built enough homes, as set by the govt, then it's easier to get permission. And if the planning policy is old and out of date, it should be easier too, especially if the National Planning Policy Framework conflicts with the outdated council policy as the NPPF wins. Obviously the council does not want to set a precident for other builds so you need to find some unique angle to go for, and you might be lucky with bees. A planning consultant may well be worth the money. And you can always withdraw the application if you expect to be refused so you don't have a refusal against you - I understand that it's then easier to apply again.
Thanks for inf. Yes, using a planning consultant and applying for residence with Apiary Unit attached. Will advise outcome in due course!
 
Good job you haven’t started your application.
It becomes a food preparation unit loads of extra hoops to jump through, loads of barriers if it's a residential area
You need to list it as a garage
 
Apiary Unit

Can’t you ask your architect to include it as part of the house? The shed doesn’t have to be separate from the house, and you can call it something like ‘studio’ it ‘work room’.

I could except that it is planned to be an eco-friendly sustainable development on Passivhaus principles, with zero or near zero carbon emissions, providing a bio-diversity net gain with an acre of wild flower meadow, wild life pond, orchard and mixed native hedgerows. My argument goes on... that I need the space and processing area for the Apiary hence an 'Apiary Unit', so its a whole package which the planners can consider (possibly favourably with local support!). I know, a long shot but worth a try!
 

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