How to run a legal and compliant campsite or glamping site in Wales

Since 2022, Welsh permitted development rights allow many landowners to use a field as a temporary campsite for a limited number of days each calendar year without a full planning application. It is the simplest legal route into hosting — but it is genuinely temporary.

• Up to 56 days of temporary recreational use per calendar year in Wales (extended from the previous 28-day allowance).
• Pitches must be genuinely temporary: tents, campervans or removable units that come and go with the season.
• Any structure left in place year-round — pods, cabins, shepherd's huts, permanent shower blocks — normally needs full planning permission.
• Temporary facilities such as portable toilets and washing points must be removed at the end of the permitted period.
• PDR is usually restricted or unavailable on designated land, including National Parks, AONBs/National Landscapes, SSSIs and scheduled monuments.
• Count your days carefully and keep a booking record — exceeding the allowance is an enforcement risk.

Planning to open beyond 56 days, or to install permanent glamping units? Speak to your local planning authority about a change-of-use application before you invest.

Wales is introducing a statutory register for all visitor accommodation — including campsites, glamping sites and short-term lets. Once it applies to you, operating without a registration number is not an option.

• Register your site with the Welsh statutory visitor accommodation register and keep your details up to date.
• You receive a unique registration number that must be displayed on listings and advertising.
• Registration covers campsites, glamping, pods, cabins, holiday cottages and short-term lets alike.
• A separate licensing stage is planned to follow registration — budget time for evidence such as safety checks and insurance.
• Add your registration number to your live 1 life host profile so guests can see you are a registered operator.

Inviting paying guests onto your land changes your risk profile. Farm or domestic policies rarely cover commercial camping, so tell your insurer exactly what you are doing.

• Hold active public liability cover — £2m–£5m is the common range for small campsites and glamping sites.
• Check that camping, glamping, fire pits, hot tubs, livestock and farm machinery are all named on the policy.
• Add employers' liability if you use staff, and consider contents or business interruption cover for pods and cabins.
• Carry out and record a written risk assessment covering water, terrain, trees, tracks and vehicle movements.
• Keep gas, electrical and fire-safety certificates for any fixed units — insurers and the register will ask for them.

Most complaints about small sites come down to waste and water. Get these right and the rest of compliance is much easier.

Sites near protected habitats may also need to consider nutrient and phosphate rules — check with Natural Resources Wales if you are close to a designated river.

Small sites survive on local goodwill. Share the Countryside Code with every guest and set expectations in your house rules before they arrive.

• Ask guests to take all litter home and leave no trace of their pitch.
• Keep dogs under control around livestock and clean up after them.
• Set quiet hours and a no-amplified-music rule to protect neighbours and wildlife.
• Give clear arrival directions to avoid guests blocking lanes, gateways and passing places.
• Leave gates as you find them and keep public rights of way clear of pitches and parking.
• Tell nearby residents and the local community council what you are planning before you open.