Applying to build new homes on Exmoor farms has been made more straightforward thanks to new supplementary planning guidelines passed by National Park Authority Members this month.

The advice aims to make it easier for rural workers or family members that are crucial to the farm business to get planning permission for their own home on the farm.

It follows a two-year consultation process involving statutory bodies, parish councils, workshops with the Exmoor Hill Farming Network and professional planning consultants, plus a 10-week public consultation that took place last summer.

Nationally, homes in the open countryside are only permitted in exceptional circumstances, such as needing a full-time worker permanently on site to tend livestock.

But within National Parks, there is a particular need to ensure the traditional skills and ways of life that contribute to the distinct beauty and character of the landscape are passed down from one generation to the next.

Alongside the new guidelines, regular planning surgeries and free pre-application advice are offered by the National Park Authority to help farming families get the advice they need about planning.

Read more: Exmoor Hill Farming Network is now 100 per cent farmer-led

Nicky and Tim Stenner were granted planning permission to build a three-bed home on their family farm in September 2014. They now live there with their three children, their cat ‘Socks’ and dog ‘Mist’.

Nicky said: “We are so fortunate to have been able to build our own home on the family farm. It means we can live a true farming lifestyle – the children are able to join us on the farm, and busy times such as lambing and calving are much easier to manage.

“The business is now much more sustainable long-term, with both Tim and my father working and living on the farm. We found the National Park to be very supportive of our plans. Designing and building our own home was an incredible experience which has given us lifelong benefits and allowed our farm business to look to the future with certainty.”

Robin Milton, chair of Exmoor National Park Authority, said: “I’m delighted to launch these new guidelines that we hope will mean more hard-working farming families are able to continue living and thriving on Exmoor. The importance of this in sustaining the intricate pattern of fields, moors and woodlands for which the National Park is known and loved cannot be understated, and we welcome this further support.”

The new guidance is online at www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy