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Class R Eligibility Checklist
Unlike Class Q, at the time of writing, Class R is not excluded from National Landscapes or conservation areas. If your barn sits in a protected landscape where Class Q is off the table, Class R may still be open to you.
This article covers what Class R is and what you have to do to use it. It also looks at where Class R is the better route than Class Q.
If you're considering residential conversion instead, that's Class Q. We've written a separate guide.
Why apply for a Change of Use Under Class R?
For many agricultural estates, a change of use for a previously redundant structure can diversify the estate’s income.
In May 2024, Class R was revised, enabling farmers, landowners and developers to convert unused agricultural buildings to commercial spaces, without the need to submit a full planning application.
If you are considering doing some residential work, then you would need to look at Class Q, for which we have written a guide.
What Class R permits
Under Class R, farm buildings can be converted into flexible commercial spaces, such as:
Shops
Cafes
Hotel and Guest Accommodation
Offices
Leisure or recreational facilities
This unlocks the opportunity to use neglected buildings on your farm for innovative and profitable new purposes. Depending on how the estate is run, some of these uses are more passive than others; storage or office space asks far less of your time than a cafe or a shop. The right use is the one that fits how the farm already works.
Markos Design Workshop - Why Class R Could be a great opportunity
One of the great things about Class R, is whereas a full planning application asks the council to approve your business case being made. Class R does not, so long as the building and site pass the Class R technical test.
One of the reasons I think this is particularly important is it allows farming businesses to get a business up and running without going through the often lengthy route of a planning application.
What you actually have to do
First, check the building’s history. On 3 July 2012, it must have been used only for agriculture, as part of a working farm (an “established agricultural unit”). If it was empty on that date, the test applies to whatever it was last used for before then. If the building only came into farm use after 2012, it must have been in that use for 10 years before you convert it.
Next, add up the floor area. The 150m² and 1,000m² limits apply to the whole farm, so every building you convert under Class R counts towards the same total. If you convert a 120m² barn this year and a 90m² store next year, you’ve used 210m², and the store will need prior approval.
Up to 150m², you only need to tell the council before you start using the building. You give them the start date, the new use and a site plan. Between 150m² and 1,000m², you need prior approval. The council can only assess four things: highways, noise, contamination and flood risk. In my experience, highways cause the most trouble. If the council consider the existing track to be unsafe, then they will not grant a Class R approval and instead a separate planning application would need to be required.
Once approved, you can switch between Class R uses later. A barn used for storage could become a shop, for example. You’ll need to notify the council or apply for prior approval again for each change, but you won’t need a full planning application.
Conclusion
Class R changes the use of the building and nothing more. It doesn’t allow any building work, so new openings, a shopfront or a kitchen flue each need a separate planning application. Once a barn becomes a shop or café, it also loses its agricultural exemption from Building Regulations, which means fire escape routes, insulation and accessible facilities all have to be designed in.
So don’t stop at whether you qualify. Ask whether your building can actually take the use you have in mind.
A barn can pass every Class R test and still be the wrong building for a café: the structure is too weak, the access is unsafe, or there’s no realistic way to meet Building Regulations.
How can Markos Design Workshop Architects help?
We start every Class R project with a Pre-Design Report. It tests whether the building qualifies, whether it can take the use you have in mind, and what the works and consents are likely to cost.
One complete, and if the project stacks up, we prepare the notification or prior approval submission, and the drawings for any planning and Building Regulations work that follows.
If this is something you can book a call with me at the top right, so we can have a conversation to see how we might be able to help you.
