Oh dear - If its thought of as "tatty woodland" does this not give the excuse to demand a whole host of wildlife environmental surveys, demanded in series of course, because to do them in parallel would get them over too quickly and perhaps offer some economies by combining some.

If someone was selling as plot with potential for building, would it not be fair to ask them to foot the bill for all building application costs. If they refuse, then they know that the chances of getting permission are slim, so it is not really a potential building plot, if they agree, then you know it is over priced. Just a thought.

Ah, speculators, never did anyone any good.

Now if inflation adjusted GDP per person is £5,595/person (in Q4 2011), and the land area in the UK per person is 244,820 km^2 and there are 70 million inhabitance. Then the price per km^2/year should be £1600/km^2 or £0.0016/m^2.

Now say that people will live till they are 90, then that is 14.4p/m^2

I think that either land is overvalued or the economy is under performing.

Hi,
I thought that "outline planning permission" cost in the low hundreds to apply and get an answer with strict time limits for the council to reply in (6 or 8 weeks as I remember). Would it be easier to do this with a prior agreement that you have first refusal when the plot is valued with the permission ?

Hi Steamy Tea I don't quite understand your figures, maybe it's because I grew up with the imperial system ! The figure that stuck in my mind was that on average the land area per person in the U.K. was one acre. So can I have my acre and live in a wooden shack till I keel over.

Richard

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: HalcyonRichard</cite>Hi,
I thought that "outline planning permission" cost in the low hundreds to apply and get an answer with strict time limits for the council to reply in (6 or 8 weeks as I remember). Would it be easier to do this with a prior agreement that you have first refusal when the plot is valued with the permission ?

Richard</blockquote>

In theory, yes, but in practice you find that the LA often play games, like refusing to validate an application (and so start the clock running) until they have all the information they need, with requests for additional information pre-validation often coming sequentially and taking weeks, if not months.

They also frequently fail to hit the target time for considering applications, and aren't held to account for it, it seems. Add in that they can add to the time taken for consideration by further requests for information that results from the consultation process, by referring it to the planning committee rather than using delegated powers and even by initially rejecting an application, forcing applicants to go though the submission process again to get things changed.

In my personal view, outline PP is perhaps not a wise approach if the style, scale and appearance of the house is likely to prove contentious. There will be a "fear of the unknown", particularly if an outline application goes to committee (and in this case it would, if only because of the history and AONB status). The planners may be reluctant to establish the principle of development via approving an outline application, without knowing how the finished dwelling will sit in the landscape. Certainly this is the problem my plot had, with many of the objections on record (that still get raised even now) being related to unknown features of the house that were raised during the outline application back in 2003.

Just be v. careful how you ask - because nothing generates a TPO quite as fast as an inquiry about a TPO

I have a giant weed (sycamore) in my garden. One of the most unprepossessing trees you could wish not to see, and it has a TPO. Any suggestion of getting SWH or PV is shot down by the almost total early-to-mid-afternoon shading.

A friend bought a piece of land a good few years ago and on the day the sale completed he went with a tape measure to size up the plot, a neighbour came out and rather curtly told him 'to touch nothing' as he'd applied for a TPO on the trees on the plot. That same afternoon an excavator arrived and quickly cleared the plot ready for development! Problem sorted!

Strangely there is a TPO on a eucalyptus and a mountain ash in our garden, apparently they form part of ‘a important group of trees'.

The main problem seems to be that it's relatively easy for anyone to get a TPO put on a tree. Some groups that have collated various ways of blocking or delaying developments have even published how to do it. The process seems pretty quick and isn't really subject to effective scrutiny in terms of whether the tree in question is worthy of protection.

As with a fair bit of misused legislation, it has the opposite effect to that intended in many cases, as some unscrupulous developers will clear all the trees from a site, even those they might have been able to keep, before they go public with any planning application.

Of all the council officials I dealt with only the Tree officer was intransigent. He did come out to site and he was a very pleasant chap. I guess, unlike planning officials, who on the whole are not against building development per se and are consequently juggling conflicting interests the tree officer's sole role is to preserve trees.

There's a skinny tree in next door's garden that has shot up since we built our house. Don't know what it is. In a few years it will shade our solar panels. I expect it's being measured up for a TPO any day now.

That said we have 5 huge trees of our own all with TPO's and worth all the hassle, tree surveys and expense. The 3 beech are beautiful and settle the house (and me I guess) in the landscape.

Nick,

buy an oak seedling and grow it in a good siyed container for 3 or 4 years. Then fell the sycamore and have the stump ground out (not all that expensive) then plant the now good sized oak.

Jonti

Well having taken your advice I've been in touch with the lady selling the land and asked her to confirm if any of the trees are covered by TPO's.

The bad news is three large trees are and their canopies practically fill the site.

Having pointed out that if the trees stay the land may be worthless as a building plot, she is taking advice !!

Any news?

Resurrecting this thread as I have a related query.
- How to estimate the potential extra value of a low energy build?

After looking for a site for over 2 years, we’ve now found a derelict Victorian workshop building which seems ideal for our EnerPHit ambitions (South facing windows, floors and roof need replacing etc.). Only trouble is the owner doesn’t want to sell it for residential use and has placed a harsh uplift clause on the land value, which comes into effect if we get planning consent.

Since they’re unlikely to agree to a conditional contract (option agreement?), I’m aware there's a big risk that we could buy the building, apply for PP and then there’s a ‘blank cheque’ for how much the land is now worth.

Is anyone aware of any safeguards / insurance that one can get to mitigate this risk? If we, say, offered £30k less than asking price and then put that aside to cover the risk that the final value was higher than we thought?

What are people’s thoughts on how we estimate a reasonable price, given the nature of the existing building on the site? As a reference, another empty plot in the town centre with detailed PP for a 3-bed house is on the market for £100k.

Other points:
Rural location
Not in a conservation area or AONB (from what I can gather)
Good road access
No services connection - how does one find out the nearest routes?
120m² total GIA before the works (IWI will probably reduce this to 100m²)
The façades are wonderful (hence the IWI route), so any changes would be largely invisible from outside - does this mean the EnerPHit factor shouldn’t affect the land value anyway?

Any thoughts gratefully received!

Are you sure they won't agree to a 'conditional contract'? Maybe approach them with your example of 3 bed plot for £100k and try and negotiate one. Also agree good to look into services connection prices.

Not sure if this is applicable in your area but planners round here have been indicating that an 'eco house' makes no difference to getting planning as regs have been improved so all houses are eco anyway.

I'm not convinced that an 'eco house' is worth more money to the general public, so doesn't effect sale price. All I think it does is make contractors think you're loaded and rip you off or the owner of your site will think you've got lots of money and drive a harder bargain. On my new planning application and subsequent tender documents I've removed any mention of eco anything - bit cynical I know!