Key takeaways

• On an existing, licensed holiday park, the site itself holds the planning permission. You do not need your own for an individual lodge.
• On private land, or a brand new site, you do and a lodge used as a separate home counts as a new dwelling in planning terms, same as a static caravan.
• Whether a lodge counts as a caravan or a building in law depends on its size and whether it could still be moved by road. Oversized or permanently fixed lodges lose the caravan exemptions altogether.
• The 4 year and 10 year rules that apply to static caravans apply here too unauthorised residential use since April 2024 needs 10 years without enforcement, not 4.

Lodge, park home, static caravan: three different words for three different sets of planning rules, and lodges sit in an odd spot because they are often built to the same standard as a residential park home while still being classed, legally, as a type of caravan. That is exactly where people get caught out.

LOOKING FOR A HOLIDAY HOME?

Do you need planning permission for a holiday lodge?

The short answer, at a glance:

If you are buying a lodge that is already sited on a licensed holiday park, no. The park operator holds the planning permission for the site as a whole, and it covers every unit on it.

If you are putting a lodge on private land, your own garden, a field, a plot you have bought, yes, in almost every case. A lodge used as a self contained living space, with its own sleeping, cooking and bathroom facilities, counts as a new dwelling. That is true whether you are planning to live in it, let it out, or put a relative in it. The one narrow exception is if it is genuinely incidental to your main house, an annexe someone in your household uses, not an independent home, and even then, check with your council before you assume it qualifies.

If you are setting up a new lodge development or extending an existing park, you need planning permission for the site itself, separately from anything about the individual lodges on it. More on that below.

Is a lodge a caravan or a building?

This is the bit the sales brochure will not tell you, and it matters more for lodges than for anything else on a park.

Under the Caravan Sites Act 1968, a structure only counts as a caravan if it is still capable of being moved by road, and, for twin unit caravans, which covers most lodges, if it does not exceed 20 metres in length, 6.8 metres in width, or 3.096 metres in internal height. Stay inside those limits and remain genuinely moveable, and a lodge is treated as a caravan: it can go on a licensed caravan site under the site's own permission, no separate planning consent needed for the unit itself.

Go bigger, or fix it down in a way that means it cannot reasonably be removed, and it stops being a caravan in the law's eyes. It becomes a building. That has real consequences: it falls outside the site licence system entirely and needs its own planning permission and building regulations sign off, the same as constructing a house would. Park home, static caravan or lodge: what is the difference covers the BS3632 build standard side of this; the caravan or building test above is the separate, planning law side of it. Ask the manufacturer or the park directly whether a specific lodge falls inside the caravan size limits before you commit, particularly on the larger premium models.

Putting a lodge on your own land

Same rules as a static caravan, covered in full in our planning permission guide for static caravans, the lodge or caravan distinction above does not change any of it. In short: temporary use while you are building or renovating on the same plot can go ahead without permission if it is removed afterwards; a lodge inside your garden used as an extension of the household, relied on for meals or washing in the main house, may count as incidental and not need consent; anything used as an independent home, for you or a relative, needs full planning permission, and owning the land does not grant you the right to live in a lodge on it without it.

The 4 year and 10 year rules apply too. Continuous unauthorised residential use that began before 25 April 2024 can still become lawful after 4 years without enforcement; anything that started after that date needs 10 years. You would need a Lawful Development Certificate either way, backed by solid evidence, utility bills, council tax records, dated photos.

Setting up a new lodge park or development

This is a different job to buying one lodge, and it needs its own planning application to the local council for the site as a whole, covering environmental impact, access, noise and drainage among other things, before a single lodge goes on the ground.

There is a persistent claim doing the rounds that land over five acres gets you an easy route into running a lodge park, as long as no caravan sits on it for more than 28 days a year. That is a real provision, from the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, but it exempts small scale, genuinely temporary caravanning, up to three caravans at a time, 28 days a year, from needing a site licence. It has nothing to do with permanently siting lodges or opening a park, and it will not get a development off the ground.

Application fees are reviewed each April, with a further change due 8 December 2026, so rather than quote a figure that will be out of date within months, check the current cost on the Planning Portal fee calculator before you budget. Set aside time as well as money: councils typically take around eight weeks to determine a standard application, longer for anything larger or more contentious, and most offer a pre application advice service worth using before you submit anything formally.

Permission granted does not last indefinitely either. You generally have three years to begin the development before consent lapses, so factor that into any phased build.

FAQs

Do you need planning permission for a holiday lodge?

Not for an individual lodge on an already licensed holiday park, the site's permission covers it. On private land, or for a new site, yes.

Is a lodge legally a caravan or a building?

It depends on size and mobility. Under the Caravan Sites Act 1968, a twin unit structure counts as a caravan up to 20m long, 6.8m wide and 3.096m high, provided it could still be moved by road. Beyond that, or fixed down permanently, it is treated as a building and needs its own planning permission.

Can I put a lodge in my garden?

Only without separate permission if it is genuinely incidental to your main house, not an independent home. A lodge used as self contained living space, for you or anyone else, needs planning permission.

What is the planning permission fee for a lodge?

It depends on whether you are applying as a householder or for a new development, and fees change each April, with a further change from 8 December 2026. Check the current cost on the Planning Portal rather than relying on a fixed figure.

Does the 4 year rule still apply to lodges?

Only if the unauthorised residential use began before 25 April 2024. Anything after that needs 10 years without enforcement action, the same rule that applies to static caravans.

Looking at lodges for a specific park, or thinking about developing your own site? Browse licensed holiday parks or call us on 03333 445014 to talk through what is realistic for your land.