The new laws extending temporary campsites to 56 days are not enough say campaigners.

The existing extension has enabled more farmers to benefit from the boom in staycations.

In fact, over the past week, national outdoor accommodation website Pitchup has had bookings rocket by almost 200 per cent compared to 2019.

While the extension of permitted development from 28 days to 56 has made many new sites viable, with almost three times more nights spent abroad in a normal year than domestically, rural businesses will still struggle to meet the huge demand for holiday accommodation from this year’s staycation boom and recover from the financial impact of Covid.

This is why organisations including the NFU and Countryside Alliance have formed the 'Carry on Camping' campaign.

READ MORE: North Devon farm makes £20k from pop-up campsite (thanks to new planning rules)

Dan Yates, Pitchup.com's founder, who is spearheading the campaign says: “Last year’s extension from 28 to 56 days was very welcome, but the limit is still restrictive given that portable facilities use up the allowance even when no campers are on site.

"Weather can also eat into the time: last year, due to flooding, our best-selling pop-up had to close for the year two weeks early and refund almost £14,000 in bookings.

"The allowance is depleted further by staff training, particularly in new Covid-19 measures, by time adding/removing portable facilities, and by empty mid-week periods.

"The cumulative effect can be to reduce the 56-day allowance to a handful of weekends in peak season.

“Extending the period to October half term would enable rural businesses to make best use of the weather, by providing flexibility to operate all season.

"Our campaign has the full support of a range of rural organisations including the NFU, the Countryside Alliance, Historic Houses, the Campaign for Pubs and the Federation of Small Businesses, to name check a few.

"This change would not only help farmers and other landowners away from the busy ‘honeypot’ resorts recover from the pandemic, but also benefit a host of rural businesses - from pubs and village stores to tradespeople and garages - sustaining them throughout the winter for the benefit of the entire community, not to mention allowing thousands of Brits to get away who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.”

READ MORE: Farmers flock to create temporary campsites to cash in on staycation boom

Permitted Development Rights (PDR) enable land to be used for certain types of uses, for a specific period of time, without the landowner needing to apply for planning permission.

As the regulations allow land to be used without planning permission for ‘any purpose for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year and the provision on land of any moveable structures for the purposes of the permitted use’, campsites, complete with toilet and shower blocks, are covered by the legislation as permitted development.

The 28-day rule has generally only been viable to businesses with facilities already on site, such as showgrounds, pubs, or farms with facilities for workers.

To support the reopening of the economy last year the Government introduced a regulation to temporarily extend the usual 28 days to 56 days.

The change in PDR was initially set to be in place until the end of 2020, but as Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc to the UK’s tourism and hospitality sectors, the 56-day extension was extended to the end of 2021 in November 2020.

The measure was introduced in Wales in April 2021.