A plot of land has become available in my village, has no planning permission in place and although the agents details state it would be ideal for grazing or a paddock, it also suggests it might be an investment for future development.

I’m a total planning novice, so am wondering how I can get an educated opinion on whether residential planning permission would be considered & under what circumstances?

Cheers.

local plan, covenants on the land itself, other examples of local builds on green land, phone planning office and ask, ask agent why they think it may be an investment?

tbh, unless it’s actually being sold with planning (at least in principle) I’d be sceptical it will get it.

(I am not a planning expert)

Also check for uplift.

Informal chat with the planners – some Councils now charge for this though.

if planning was likely, why would the vendor not have got it therefore increasing the value of the land significantly.

Can you give us a link – may be able to advise.

Who knows. If it were a straightforward one the seller would have got permission on it first.

Buy it and sit on it, but don’t pay too much for it without permission.

The pasture opposite our house had been denied permission twice in 20 years.

Last year they got permission on it, and its now up for sale.

We’ve gotta build more and more houses, planners prefer to put them inside village limits. Who knows how policy will change in the next 10 years.

it also suggests it might be an investment for future development.

This means absolutely nothing I’m afraid. Sounds like it’s agricultural land and getting change of use can be a long and arduous job.

How much land is there and what’s the price?

if planning was likely, why would the vendor not have got it therefore increasing the value of the land significantly

This is significant.

Buy it, dump scrap metal on it over the course of a couple of years then put in for planning.

8)

Best to read up on your planning authorities policies and local plan.

Do agree that if it was simple to get permission it would have been done. But I guess you’re talking about a plot that could fit several dwellings? If so fees for getting it through could be pretty damn big.

Change of use can be very hard to get, especially for agricultural land. I think you will end up having to show that agricultural use isn’t feasible and so a change of use must be granted.

If planning was easy, the vendor would have done it.

If planning was likely, the vendor will probably want an uplift clause when they sell.

Most likely, the agent has put that little innocuous clause in to make amateurs think they are on to a bargain and get some mug to pay over the odds.

If its not agricultural and needing a change of use then full planning would be £385 per dwelling, outline would be £385 for each 0.1 hectare for smallish sites. Your architects fees would mount up for full planning so it might work out more expensive than outline which could just be a red line on an OS plan.

We’ve just been looking at a couple of sites that were being sold with permission – in both cases the permission had expired quite a few months earlier.

Don’t believe a word estate agents tell you..

Don’t believe a word estate agents tell you..
Very good advice. Some are good some are sharks they all work on commission and want you to part with your money.

it also suggests it might be an investment for future development.

any bit of land might be a development potential in the future. There may be all sorts of changes of government and law and local planning and infrastructure and brexit and Katie Hopkins moving into 10 Downing Street. But the future is in the future. It sort of implies its not going to be suitable for development now.

In all likelihood the agent is trying to find more words to fill out a paragraph when all thats for sale is ‘a field’.

If you want a field to use as a field anyway thats fine. If you want to develop the site then at some time in the next 50 to 100 years something might happen that allows you to do that. Or it might not. So don’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose.

I love the: “might be…”. Easy words.
It could depend on whether there has been anything built on it at all, whether green belt/AoNB etc. You could always try NPPF paragraph 55. On the final bullet there are a number of houses which have permission on this basis but its not an easy route and you would need expert advice which would cost a considerable sum in fees.
I would say that if you can afford it then buy it, maybe a long term investment, or maybe just a field to build a pump track on!

funnily enough a plot of land came available in our village as “Grazing land”. It was bought (quickly), subdivided, and then remarketed with nice CGI of expensive houses on. Snapped up at auction

The chances of anything being built on it in the near future (next ten years?) is minuscule. It’s outside the village (which is designated a village, so only infill allowed), on a busy road with no decent sight line, in an AONB, in a SSSI, on a flood plain.

Etc etc.

Never say never, but as above, don’t believe the estate agent.

Don’t pay any more than the field is worth as a field.

You never know, you might one day get permission to build on it.

If you don’t have use for a field, well its not the worst investment in the world, rent it out, make hay, get a horse. You shouldn’t lose money on it if you don’t pay more than whatever its worth as a field.

No one ever sold a field near a road without first checking if they are likely to get planning on it.

No one ever sold a field near a road without first checking if they are likely to get planning on it.

and if they did, the estate agent never advertised it…

Have you seen how much fields go for nowadays? Especially if there is access to a bridleway!

My mother-in-law and father-in-law have a huge field (I reckon conservatively that you could build 75 houses on it) but it is in green belt so their house *AND* the field aren’t even worth over £1m.

If they could get planning it would be worth many, many times more than that.

Cheers for all the replies – my first thought too was if planning was possible they’d have already done it.

It’s ‘offers in excess of £60k’ for about an acre, but around here (south east), that’s probably cheap enough to suggest planning is unlikely.

It’s not in agricultural use (don’t know if that means it’s not designated as agricultural land though?), its more scrub/wasteland and is on the outskirts of the village, adjacent to one large property.

Check your local councils planning portal to see if planning has been applied for in the past and if it has, and it was refused, you will be able to see the reasons for refusal. Speak with your Parish Council to gauge their views, no doubt they will be fully aware of this land and the potential for development. Speak also with your County Councillor, they should be able to tell you if there is a neighbourhood plan for the area, and if so where you can see it. This will set out the aspirations of the local council for the land in that area. Its not usually a guarantee that this is how it will work out, but gives a fair indication of the wishes of the local community. Your local council planning officer will also be able to offer advice. However, at the end of the day the decision is usually down to a planning committee comprising of local councillors, who can be notoriously unpredictable, sometimes even going against the advice of their local planning officer.

As others have commented, you need to check out the Local Plan for the area. All available through the planning pages of the council. I agree that it’s unlikely it would be sold without pp if there was any chance of it being granted. Also as has been said though, there is increasing pressure to deliver new housing so policies do change.

It’s ‘offers in excess of £60k’ for about an acre, but around here (south east), that’s probably cheap enough to suggest planning is unlikely.

Bloody expensive for a “field” though…
Could have an Overage on it too.