The law and bee keeping , the use of agricultural land for bees

[Lemony]

I live in the country with a small garden but a large paddock next door to me .My neighbour has kindly agreed to be allow a couple of hives on his land . I have just fenced off an area and he has now had an enforcement notice from the council. I spoke to the officer who had said bees are not allowed on paddock without a change of use of the land as they are not agriculture.
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I have spent a hugs amount on fencing and I am shocked. The officer has said one or two hives is not acceptable on agricultural land .I may have to abandon my dream of having bees

Any advice or experience regarding the law, or use of agricultural land would be greatly appreciated

 

[enrico]

I live in the country with a small garden but a large paddock next door to me .My neighbour has kindly agreed to be allow a couple of hives on his land . I have just fenced off an area and he has now had an enforcement notice from the council. I spoke to the officer who had said bees are not allowed on paddock without a change of use of the land as they are not agriculture.
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I have spent a hugs amount on fencing and I am shocked. The officer has said one or two hives is not acceptable on agricultural land .I may have to abandon my dream of having bees

Any advice or experience regarding the law, or use of agricultural land would be greatly appreciated

I cant believe that. I dont know the law but that is amazing! if that stands then I would let your local papers Know!!!!

 

[Newbeeneil]

Since bees are considered as "livestock" by the NBU and DEFRA I would suggest that the keeping of bees is an agricultural practice.
I have bees on agricultural land as I assume do many other hobby AND commercial beekeepers.

Edit. I really should read to the end of posts!
So it's the fact that he considers one or two hives as the stumbling block? Ask him for his definition of how many hives and put that many boxes in the paddock. He's not to know whether they are occupied or not.
It would also be interesting to know how he became aware of the situation. Do you have an obnoxious neighbour?

 

[Erichalfbee]

In that case are bees allowed in non agricultural gardens?

 

[Erichalfbee]

@thorn is a legal eagle. Maybe he might know?

 

[Poly Hive]

I would take advice and then write a letter to the council as the "officer" has effectively stated an opinion which may very well be erroneous. I would address the letter to initially your local councillor and point this out, ie that Gov bodies regard bees as agricultural. Also I believe that farmers get "bonus points" on their paperwork for having bees on their land!

I just remembered there is a website: Legal Beagle free advice and they saved me a big parking fine.

PH

 

[roche]

Sounds like utter rubbish. All my hives are on agricultural land. I would be asking for quotations from them as to the legislation they are applying.

 

[Ian123]

What do you mean by you spent a huge amount on fencing. A few post and rails for a couple of hives shouldn’t be that much. Is it what you’ve erected that’s annoying someone or dividing the land.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Get the council to do some work and ask them what case law is there to back up their view.
Why are the council getting involved in any case - has there been cause for someone to complain to them for any reason? Is the council thinking that you might ultimately claim the fenced off paddock as your garden perhaps?

 

[Wilco]

Officer's comments are reminiscent of organic fertiliser. Will update when I have more info.

 

[JamezF]

Originally posted this to a different thread, but it's probably more appropriate here:

There may be a bit of an issue with this one depending on the circumstances. In general, according to the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act:

"“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land), the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;"

so if the bees are creatures kept for the production of food there shouldn't be an issue.

However, equestrian use doesn't fit into that. Not unless the plan is to eat the horses, anyhow. Grazing for horses is considered a different type of use as far as I'm aware because it's generally considered to be recreational.

I believe it is possible to have consent for both agriculture and equestrian use at the same time, but the only way to find out would probably be to dig up any old planning applications for the land in question and see exactly what consents were requested.

I'm surprised the planning officer has even found out about it though. Someone pretty much always has to tell them that they believe there's been a violation of planning conditions for them to take any action.

James

 

[Swarm]

Is this private land? I can't see how they have jurisdiction over the use of private land.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Originally posted this to a different thread, but it's probably more appropriate here:

There may be a bit of an issue with this one depending on the circumstances. In general, according to the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act:

"“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land), the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;"

so if the bees are creatures kept for the production of food there shouldn't be an issue.

However, equestrian use doesn't fit into that. Not unless the plan is to eat the horses, anyhow. Grazing for horses is considered a different type of use as far as I'm aware because it's generally considered to be recreational.

I believe it is possible to have consent for both agriculture and equestrian use at the same time, but the only way to find out would probably be to dig up any old planning applications for the land in question and see exactly what consents were requested.

I'm surprised the planning officer has even found out about it though. Someone pretty much always has to tell them that they believe there's been a violation of planning conditions for them to take any action.

James

Very sound James,
It would appear the problem maybe whether the land is agricultural as, from the initial post, the planning officer thinks or recreational as maybe the case as a paddock.
If it's the former then keeping bees should be allowed as livestock, if the latter the bees should be allowed as a recreational hobby?

Just thought......... I have bees in both farm land and paddocks....... just waiting for the knock on the door from the planning officer to tell me which one is not allowed

 

[user 819]

Council Jobsworthy.

 

[thorn]

@thorn is a legal eagle. Maybe he might know?

I've never been involved in agricultural law and am too long retired to have contacts to call on. But I believe that bees are livestock. We had a thread about that some time ago.
Get the planning officer to put his objections in writing, with his authorities. It may give him pause for thought.
But no, Hemo, he's not a jobsworth. He's just trying to do his job properly, though he may be getting it wrong. Presumably he's thinking of beekeeping as a hobby. By the same token would he object if the farmer's wife kept a few hens there?

 

[Karol]

Any horses in or nearby the paddock?

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/horses-and-bees-dont-mix.11539/post-143395

 

[Amari]

I live in the country with a small garden but a large paddock next door to me .My neighbour has kindly agreed to be allow a couple of hives on his land . I have just fenced off an area and he has now had an enforcement notice from the council. I spoke to the officer who had said bees are not allowed on paddock without a change of use of the land as they are not agriculture.
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I have spent a hugs amount on fencing and I am shocked. The officer has said one or two hives is not acceptable on agricultural land .I may have to abandon my dream of having bees

Any advice or experience regarding the law, or use of agricultural land would be greatly appreciated

Might be worth seeking advice from the National Bee Unit and BBKA

 

[Anduril]

This looks like classing bees as leisure and not agriculture by the officer, hence the suggestion of change of use. There was a situation I read about, where a climbing frame was placed in a field on a farm. As it wasn't for agricultural purposes it had to be removed. Not enough sheep using the swings and slides I think.
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/think-of-honeybees-as-livestock-not-wildlife-argue-expertsParagraph from the above link.
“Honeybees are artificially-bred agricultural animals similar to livestock such as pigs and cows. Except this livestock can roam beyond any enclosures to disrupt local ecosystems through competition and disease.”
From Beebase.
https://nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?sectionid=70"keeping bees is a form of livestock management".

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is this private land? I can't see how they have jurisdiction over the use of private land.

of course they have - same as they have jurisdiction over what people can build on their 'private' land. Each parcel of land has a designation otherwise people wpuld just do what they like - sometimes to the detroment of the land and the environment, each parcel of land will have a designation.

The fist step is to have a look at the LDP and see what that says

 

[BoothBees]

I've recently applied for and been permitted mixed use on agricultural land, so that my wife can keep horses. It's split 50/50, down the middle. Half is equestrian use and half is agricultural use.

The equestrian side will be used exclusively for the keeping of horses. This use also allows the horses to be given supplementary feed, be rugged for different weather conditions, groomed and ridden. The horses can be put on the agriculture side, but when on that side they may only graze. They can't be given supplementary feeds, rugged, groomed or ridden.

I'm planting an orchard on the agricultural side (growing of fruit per the permitted use of the land) and keeping my bees on that side (livestock and used in the production of food). We'll also cut hay from it.

We've been very careful in our plans to separate the two activities. The two will never meet or cross over.

I would seek expert advice on the issue.