Changes to the Four-year Planning Rule in England

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The four-year planning rule has offered a degree of protection for antennas and masts that have been erected without planning permission. Under this rule any installations which had been installed and unchanged for four years or more were protected against planning enforcement action. However, as of the 25th April 2024, this rule ceased to exist in its current form in England under changes introduced under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. The rule has been replaced by a more stringent ten-year period for the exemption from enforcement for residential dwellings. This change does not affect Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where the four-year rule will continue to apply. Any installation that was substantially completed prior to the introduction of the Act will still be subject to the four-year rule meaning, for most radio amateurs, the ten-year rule will not apply until the 24th April 2028.

For more information on planning matters visit http://www.rsgb.org/planning

Update 30 June 2024 - The term for the planning rule has changed from 4 years to 10 years planning permission exclusion limit.

Extended clarification of the change to the planning permission rule

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 will apply immediately to all newly started installations on or after 25 April 2024 and they will have to completed and unchanged for 10 years to avoid enforcement action for not having planning permission.

The new Act states that any installation that has been completed or substantially completed before the introduction of the Act will still be subject to the 4 year rule. For example if you completed the installation and can prove it to the satisfaction of the Local Planning Authority (usually the Council) on 24 April 2024 and the Council chose to take enforcement action for you not having planning permission on the 23 April 2028 you could claim exemption under the previous 4 year rule, but if you completed it on the 26 April 2024 then it would have to have been there for 10 years or more before escaping enforcement action. The wording of the Act effectively gives a grace period up to 25 April 2028 for completed or substantially completed installations.

There are a couple of points to note:-

  • The installation has to remain present and unchanged for the 4 year/10 year rule to apply. Changing the antenna can restart the clock as can adding additional antennas.

  • This legislation change only applies to England and not the rest of the UK, Chanel Islands and Isle of Man.

  • The Act does not give any guidance on what ‘substantially completed’ means.

Thanks to Len Paget GM0MNX for the further update

Arrl Gives Its Account Of Recent Network Shutdown

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Arrl Gives Its Account Of Recent Network Shutdown

As phones came back into service at the Connecticut headquarters of the ARRL, the league's communications remained sparse and carefully worded about the apparent cyberattack that disabled its networks, servers and other systems, including Logbook of the World.

Breaking a public silence of not quite one week, the league said on its website that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and third-party experts had been called in, early on, to help investigate. The league said that managers formed an incident response team.

The league's message, posted on the 4th of June on its website, offered no insights as to whether the source of the network shutdown came from an internal or external attack but said the FBI told them they considered the incident "unique.". The league offered no further explanation. The ARRL has said that no sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, had been exposed and any details about members were already publicly accessible from other sites.

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Russia Withdraws From Worldwide Flora & Fauna

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The Russian Flora and Fauna organisation has severed ties with World Wide Flora and Fauna and will no longer participate in its awards program. The coordinator of the Russian Flora and Fauna Award programme announced on the RFF website that it is withdrawing from World Wide Flora and Fauna activities effective immediately. Vitaly, RN3ANT, wrote that the decision was made with regret because of recent actions by the WWFF Committee, including the elimination in April of Crimean RRF park references.

Vitaly said in the 7th June 2024 posting that award applications that have already been approved will be completed but new RFF-H applications through WWFF will not.

He said that Russia's own Flora and Fauna programme will continue to operate and issue awards.

This incident closely follows a dustup - that is now resolved - wherein China pulled out of Parks on the Air, only to re-enter the programme after differences were resolved.