I hope you can help, my friends have just moved into a house with aprox 1 to 2 acres of land and have been asked by the local planning dept for there small holding number. How do you register a small holding and what animals can be kept on the land ? (the land is on green belt farm land).

Thank You Ian Greenhalgh Smallholder replies Agricultural property of all sizes comes under the agricultural holdings act all under the care of your local defra office. Just give them a ring. If it has always been a smallholding it will have a number but you might have to register if not or re-register, simple and free. Just phone your local defra. The bad news is that what you can do on your piece of land depends entirely on the views of your planning department as to what buildings they will allow and on whether or not your neighbours complain!

For further details see page 72 of October's Smallholder