The first thing to consider is whether your site is likely to secure planning permission for homes.
A really simple check to test that is to look at the context of your site.
Plots that already have buildings on them are usually considered brownfield sites (although not always). If they are close to or surrounded by existing homes, that can be a good indication that planning permission might be granted.
It’s also possible to secure planning for greenfield sites - those that have never previously been developed. Usually, for a greenfield site to be considered suitable for housing development it will immediately adjoin an existing town or village that has a good range of shops and facilities.
Unfortunately, fully understanding your site’s planning potential isn’t quite as simple as that- you will need to look at the council’s planning policies too.
Every council is supposed to produce a local plan which guides development for a period of 15 years - it will set out what types of development can be built where. Although that sounds simple, in practice it can get very complicated. For example, the time-period the local plan was supposed to cover might have finished, the plan might not be delivering the expected homes or the council could be in the process of preparing a new plan. These are all situations that commonly occur and mean that the policies in the local plan might not tell you the whole story - which means you’ll need to start looking at other planning documents too.
You will also need to think about some of the practicalities of house building - as well as being part of the planning process, you will need to be sure that developers could actually build homes on the plot.
Firstly, are there any technical issues that would stop the site being developed? Some of these can be checked for free online, but others might require the payment of a small fee. Things to consider include whether your site is at risk of flooding, or whether there are any existing service pipes or cables crossing the land.
Other factors - like the ecological value of your site - are likely to need specialist surveys. It might look as though there is little wildlife there, but some sites can form part of larger areas of habitat.
Secondly, how would the development be accessed? The answer might seem very obvious if your site already has an access direct from the road, but whilst it might look as though your site adjoins the adopted highway there can be small gaps between the land you legally own and the road itself.
Other situations can be a little more complicated. If your existing access is a track across a field or is a right of way through someone else’s land, you would probably have to look for alternatives. That might be another part of the site that is next to an existing road or could involve trying to buy someone else’s land - or even existing houses - to try to find a route in.
Finally, how will the site will be drained? Ideally, there would be an existing stream or river running through your site to drain rainwater into from the development. That isn’t always the case though. Sometimes there might be a watercourse nearby that you would need permission from the land owner to use, or the only option might be to connect to a nearby sewer.
There is a lot that needs to be considered when assessing the suitability of a site for development, which is why many land owners choose to ask an expert for advice.
As a specialist land promoter, The Strategic Land Group has been helping land owners understand the development potential of their land for over 10 years. Best of all, we can even help you secure planning permission and find a developer to buy your site entirely at our cost and risk.
Our fee is a share of the selling price when the site is sold, so if we don’t succeed, it doesn’t cost you anything.
If you think you have a site that may be suitable for development, get in touch today to discuss it with us - for free and with no obligation.
