Refused planning permission- next to river

[kelbie87]

Could anyone offer any suggestions to how my dad would go about building either a house or 2-4 flats on a peice of land he has.

He bought a plot of land from a builder about 12months ago who said it was greenbelt as the builder applied to build a 4 bedroom house about 8-10years ago and it was refused. I have a copy of the letter saying it was refused because it was close to a river or something along those lines.

Anyway, after the builder was refused he never used the land at all so my dad bought it to park his vehicles on it. Recently he was approached by a mechanic who offered to buy the land from him to store vehicles aswell.

This mechanic buys and sells a lot of houses and a few people have suggested that his intentions are to buy the land as an investment and build upto 10 flats on it.

If it has already been refused permission 10years ago, and I have spoken to the planning officer for the area who said its down as greenbelt then what is the chances of being able to build anything on this land. I just feel like the man who keeps pressuring my dad to sell knows something we don't and if thats the case it would be bad news if he decided to sell and then finds out he has lost a big investment.

All ideas and suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Matthew

[islandgirl]

Our area is greenbelt and permission to build is almost impossible to get. It is only granted if you can prove a special and overriding need (eg community need for a new school or sports centre etc). Even then it is extremely unlikely that it will be granted. The way to tell if the area is going to be rezoned is to get hold of a copy of the local plan. Our new 20 yr plan here has just been adopted. This tells you what the status of the land will be for 20 years. If it is going to change it will be marked. However if you have parked vehicles on it you may have a case for rezoning to light industrial in which case you may be able to build on it (but not residential - offices, warehouse). I think an indepth meeting with the local council is needed. In the meantime tell the man who is pestering to buy it that you will never sell and he may as well give up! Just get rid of him and concentrate on the potential to make a profit for yourselves (if there is any!)
If you do decide to sell then sell with a clawback condition only. Any development in say the next 50 years and you will receive 50% of the hike in value of the land for example. Simple to do and avoids the "if only I had known" scenario!

[pdk]

Yes, I agree with other post - check with Council... see the current development plans (should be on Council website) and proposals map (should show the zoning). But you can also look at the new Local Development Framework which your Council should be producing now. This sometimes changes green belt to development land, but only very rarely.

If you are in the open countryside and greenbelt it is unfortunately unlikely that you will get anything... but ask the Council as a first step.

Regards,

PETER


NOTE: Peter Kyte BSC (Hons) DipTP MRTPI CGeog is an official LandlordZONE Topic Expert… For more information on Peter D Kyte Associates and Enabling Projects please see the websites at http://www.enablinguk.com and http://www.development-seekers.com. Any advice given by Peter Kyte in this Forum is of a general nature only and should not be taken to be a final and binding planning opinion. Based on any initial advice given you are strongly advised to seek a further professional opinion, which may involve a site visit and a detailed analysis of the issues... For information on the sort of work Peter undertakes please see TRACK RECORD (http://www.enablinguk.com/track.html), WORKING WITH INVESTORS (http://www.enablinguk.com/ur-property-investors-planning.html), and PROJECT TYPES (http://www.enablinguk.com/planning-project-permission-appeal-UK.html)...