A 7.4m tipi and three containers at Roots Allotments, Hawley, are 'not inappropriate' Green Belt use, officers say. Eight objections; vote 17 September.
Three shipping containers and a 7.4 metre tipi on Green Belt farmland at Hawley should be approved, Dartford’s planning officers have advised.
The structures are on the Roots Allotments site off Shirehall Road, a field of about 3.34 hectares between Hawley village and Hawley Garden Centre. The containers were already standing when the case officer visited in February. (Officer report, 25/01450/FUL, 17 September 2026)
Sutton at Hone and Hawley Parish Council has objected, on Green Belt, highway safety and character grounds. Eight households have written in against. The Development Control Board decides at 7pm on Thursday 17 September at the Civic Centre. (Agenda, Development Control Board)
What is on the field
Application 25/01450/FUL covers four things, and only four things:
- two shipping containers along the northern edge, 2.6 and 3.2 metres high, one a site office and one a communal tool shed
- a third container 15 metres inside the access, for tools used to build the plots
- a tipi of fabric on wooden supports, 7.4 metres at its highest point, with a footprint of 85.43 square metres
- a 110 metre internal track of crushed recycled stone topped with recycled road planings
The containers come to 155.5 cubic metres between them. The tipi accounts for roughly 211 cubic metres on its own.
Widening the existing Shirehall Road access by three metres does not need planning permission, and the report says some widening has already happened.
Why the allotments themselves are not up for a vote
Growing food is farming in law. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 does not treat agriculture as development, so the allotment use needs no permission at all. Only the buildings, the tipi and the surfacing do.
That distinction shapes the whole report. The officer dismisses objections about cars parked at the site, because parking by allotment holders belongs to a use that is already lawful.
The application came out of enforcement. The report records “an enforcement investigation into the use of the land as an allotment”, after which the council invited an application for the structures.
The Green Belt test the officer applies
The site sits entirely in the Green Belt. It is also wholly within Source Protection Zone 1 and over a groundwater aquifer, and its eastern edge is in Flood Zone 2, though none of the structures are.
The officer uses paragraph f.iv of policy GB7 in the 2026 National Planning Policy Framework. That treats “appropriate facilities” for allotments as not inappropriate development, provided the impact on openness is minimised.
His conclusions:
- the structures cover a modest part of a 3.34 hectare field, so the spatial impact is minimal
- hedgerows screen the containers from the road, and the tipi is set well back
- there is encroachment into the countryside, which conflicts with Green Belt purpose (c), but not significantly
- painting the containers dark green would reduce what visual harm there is
The Environment Agency made no comments. Kent County Council’s highways team has a holding objection but has accepted the visibility splays, which a condition would secure.
The yoga question
One objector told the council the tipi is used for activities beyond farming, and linked to the operator’s own website as evidence.
The report answers it directly. The tipi is described as being for cooking and gardening classes tied to what is grown on the site, used seasonally. Then this warning to councillors: “Members should be clear that this application would not grant planning permission for a yoga use.”
If such a use did start, the officer says, the council would have to decide separately whether a material change of use had taken place.
Condition 3 would restrict the containers and tipi to “agricultural purposes associated with and ancillary to the use as allotments and for no other use”.
Nine months on the register
The application was received on 19 December 2025 and validated on 23 January 2026. Its statutory determination deadline was 24 April. An extended deadline agreed with the applicant ran out on 31 July. (Dartford Borough Council planning register)
It has been undecided for almost nine months, and reaches a committee this week.
What it means for you
This is a private operator, not a council allotment scheme, and the report says so: “Though following a private model and not Council-led, I observe this does provide some opportunity for local residents to grow food.”
For neighbours, three conditions matter if the board grants permission:
| Condition | What it requires |
|---|---|
| 2 | Containers painted matte dark green (RAL 6002) within three months |
| 3 | Containers and tipi used only for allotment-related purposes |
| 4 | Visibility splays in place within three months, nothing over 900mm in them |
To speak at the meeting you must already have commented on the application, or be the applicant or agent. One speaker is allowed for and one against, three minutes each, first come first served, and you register on 01322 343987. (Public speaking at the Development Control Board)
The planning register shows a standard consultation expiry of 25 September, which falls after the vote. The meeting is the real deadline.
Public footpath DR328 runs along the western boundary of the field and is unaffected, Kent’s rights of way team says.
Other applications in the borough are listed on our Dartford planning applications page.
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