Under Section 269 of the Public Health Act 1936 sites must have a licence if they operate for more than:

  • 42 consecutive days or
  • 60 days in total in any 12 consecutive months

You can only have a site licence after you have the correct planning permission for your site. You can submit an application to find out if you need planning permission on our Finding out if you need planning permission page.

Exempt sites

Some camping sites will not need a licence. Specified recreational organisations can get an exemption certificate from Natural England. This will allow them to camp on land without a site licence or planning permission. An exemption certificate is valid for a specified time such as 5 years. It will be subject to strict criteria.

Read more about the criteria and view a list of current exemption holders on GOV.UK.

Before you start

You will need a layout of the site to a scale more than 1:500.

Where applicable, it should include:

  • boundaries of the site
  • existing buildings on the site
  • positions of any caravan hard standings
  • roads and footpaths
  • toilet blocks, stores & other buildings
  • water supply
  • fire points
  • foul and surface water drainage
  • parking spaces
  • recreation spaces
  • any proposed facilities marked in a different way from any existing facilities

Apply for new camping site licence

Start now

What happens next

You will need to complete a new application if there is a change of:

  • site licence operator
  • operator address
  • number of pitches