Don’t Play Planning Police: Why Dog Fields Need to Stop Turning on Each Other

Secure dog fields are springing up all over the country. That’s a good thing. It means more dogs running safely off-lead, more owners with peace of mind, and more landowners and farmers making their property work harder.

But with growth comes friction. And increasingly, we’re seeing dog field owners writing in about the ‘illegal’ field down the road, or worse – reporting each other to the council.

This behaviour has a name: playing the planning police. And it’s not a good look.

Let’s be clear. Unless there are genuine safety issues – fences that could let a dog escape onto a main road or hazardous setups – you are not the sheriff of dog fields.

Here’s why.

Why Some Fields Don’t Have a Neat Planning Permission Sticker

Before you put on your hi-viz and start waving the ‘illegal field’ flag, let’s walk through a few realities. This is a complex area, full of light and shade, and unless you’ve got a very experienced planning officer on speed dial, whatever you think you know probably isn’t the full story.

1. Certificates of Lawful Use (CLEUD)

Some fields have Certificates of Lawful Existing Use or Development – fancy paperwork that says, ‘Yes, this is lawful, even without a shiny new planning permission’.  In some cases, there isn’t even a formal certificate – just lawful use established through time. The absence of paperwork doesn’t automatically mean the use is unlawful.

2. Lawful Use Through Time

If a use has carried on for long enough without enforcement – usually four or ten years, depending on the type – it has become lawful. Sometimes this has been ‘regularised’ with paperwork, sometimes not. It doesn’t mean the field is dodgy; it means the system works in a way most parish councillors don’t fully grasp.

3. Retrospective Applications

It’s perfectly lawful to apply for planning retrospectively, and fields are lawfully permitted to continue operating while their application is considered – unless the council serves them with a Stop Notice. Retrospective applications are part of the system. You may not like them, but they’re not illegal.

4. Pending Applications

Applications are public – but unless you’re glued to your local planning portal, stalking your neighbour’s name in the local public notices, attending parish council meetings (another wholly archaic system not fit for purpose), or scrolling through Facebook threads where people beg for support, you might not spot them. Not seeing an application doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

5. Systemic Barriers

Here’s the kicker: some fields don’t apply at all. And while that isn’t ideal, it’s also not entirely surprising. A few years ago, you could get permission on the back of a fag packet with a scribbled plan of your ideas. Now it can cost between £7,000 and £20,000 for what is, at its core, just regularising permitted development (and yes, people are entitled to put a fence around their field). Do you blame people for looking at the price tag and thinking twice?

Want to read more about planning? You can. It’s the bane of our lives. We spend around 80% of our time navigating it on behalf of clients and, quite frankly, the whole thing sucks. It blows. But this article isn’t about the planning system. It’s about something simpler: not being a busibody.

What Are You Hoping to Achieve?

Before you dash off that complaint to the council, pause for a moment and ask yourself:

• Are you genuinely worried someone or something might get hurt because the field isn’t safe?
  
• Or are you hoping to saddle another operator with a big financial burden just because you had to go through it?
  
• Are you trying to get them shut down so all their customers will come to you?
  

If it’s the last two – take a really good, hard look at yourself. Because what you’re doing isn’t protecting the industry, it’s undermining it.

Why Playing Planning Police Hurts Everyone

When dog field owners turn into amateur enforcement officers, it doesn’t just irritate their neighbours – it actively harms the industry and the wider community.

1. Council resources are wasted. Planning officers already have more on their desks than they can handle. Every time they have to drop real work to chase up a neighbourly gripe, something more important gets pushed to the bottom of the pile.
   
2. Taxpayer money is burned. Once a formal complaint is lodged, councils are obliged to investigate it. That means site visits, reports, correspondence – the whole machine grinding into motion. All of it costs time and money, and that bill isn’t sent to the complainant; it’s picked up by the local taxpayer.
   
3. The industry’s reputation takes a hit. Every spat, every complaint, every “gotcha” moment makes secure dog fields look less like a professional sector and more like a petty squabble. That erodes public trust and makes it harder for all of us to be taken seriously by planners, councils, and customers.
   
4. Your own focus is misdirected. Time spent peering over the hedge at the neighbour’s planning status is time not spent on the stuff that actually wins customers – better fencing, safer gates, clearer policies, cleaner fields.

Why “Planning Permission” Doesn’t Equal Safe or Sensible

One of the biggest myths in this space is that planning permission automatically means a dog field is safe, compliant, and ‘done properly’. Let’s puncture that fantasy.

We see dog fields with planning permission that:

• Have double lines of barbed wire strung along the top of stock fencing – an accident waiting to happen.
  
• Cobbled together two lines of stock fence, pinned in the middle, to try and make up a taller fence. No proper strainers, no structural integrity, nothing that would stop a determined dog.
  
• Actively permit restricted breeds like XL bullies in open defiance of legislation.
  

And these aren’t rare. They’re fields that have been waved through by councils who don’t have the faintest idea what best practice looks like. The same councils that, in some cases, still promote the use of creosote – yes, actual creosote, which is illegal for use in dog fields.

So let’s be very clear: planning officers are not experts in canine safety, fencing engineering, or animal behaviour. They sign off on land use, not the day-to-day operational risks. To assume that a planning permission equals a safe, responsible dog field is not just naïve – it’s dangerous.

This is why our focus is (and always will be) on the things that matter to customers: safe fencing, secure gates, and responsible management. That’s what makes or breaks a field, not whether you’ve got a bit of paper stamped at the council office.

The Important Exception: Safety

This isn’t a free pass for poor practice. If you see something that’s genuinely unsafe – like barbed wire strung across a boundary, six-foot fencing ‘cobbled’ together in ways that could fail or access that is a known accident hotspot – then yes, that is a different matter.

Raising concerns about life-and-limb risks is responsible. Ratting on a competitor because you think they’ve ticked a different planning box than you did is not.

Customers Expect More Than Paperwork

Here’s the truth: customers aren’t choosing fields based on who has the best-framed planning certificate. They’re choosing based on who provides the safest, most professional experience.

That means:

• Fencing that inspires confidence, not suspicion.
  
• Gates that work every time.
  
• Clear policies and expectations of behaviour (observing buffers etc.)
  
• A clean, well-managed site that feels cared for.
  

Get those things right and you won’t need to worry about what’s happening down the lane.

Look to Your Own Field First

If bookings are slowing, don’t assume the neighbour without planning is ‘stealing’ them. Ask yourself:

• Are my facilities up to scratch?
  
• Am I communicating clearly with customers?
  
• Have I built trust through safety and professionalism?
  

Often, the issue isn’t what others are doing – it’s what you could be doing better.

Why Planning Still Matters (Sometimes)

None of this is to say that planning is irrelevant. It isn’t. Having the right permissions in place keeps your field on the right side of the law and shows customers you’re serious about running a professional business.

It also matters for recognition. While all fields can be listed in our directory, only those with appropriate permissions are eligible for our annual Dog Field of the Year national awards. That’s not us being picky; that’s simply rewarding operators who’ve done the full job. Don’t hate the player – hate the game.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Fields

The secure dog field industry is still young. Its reputation will be shaped by how owners act now. Do we want to be seen as supportive, professional, and safety-conscious – or as a pack of squabbling tattletales?

Let the councils handle planning. Focus your energy on making your own field as safe, secure, and enjoyable as possible. Because when standards rise across the board, everyone benefits – owners, customers, and, most importantly, the dogs.