Now what has this cynical observation got to
do with Residential Planning and Development I hear you ask? Well
I have noticed the start of an increasing trend that for me, has the makings
of another 'latest fashion fad' about to explode onto the UK property scene
that could fall into the same criteria I have just described above - except
this one wont cost you £9.99 but £16K to £25K - Please
enter the 'building plot' sale of huge chunks of farm land for residential
housing (subject to Planning of course).
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Speculative Development
Plots - A worrying Trend or a Safe
Bet? - Displayed on a glossy
wall map and within a condensed brochure pack are what at first hand appears
to be a professionally presented and laid out set of building plots for domestic
dwellings. Each plot is about half an acre with the infrastructure
and plot areas already laid out and clearly defined. I don't have to
imagine anything - its so clear what I am buying. Even their web sites
shows the same degree of 'mouse-over' pick and choose selections - WOW! -
the quick and cheap way into the fast food version of buying your own
building plot - why hasn't anyone thought of doing this sort of mass
plot sale before? - it's so simple - the 'building plot supermarket' springs
to mind - UNTIL THE PENNY DROPS and YOU REALISE THAT NONE OF
THESE SITES HAVE PLANNING CONSENT FOR THE DREAM PROPERTIES THAT MAY EVENTUALLY
BE CONSTRUCTED.
So, OK, you get over the initial excitement and
let-down and you say to yourself, '£16K for a potential future development
building plot is still peanuts compared to the £200K+ price it would
fetch with Planning Permission - that must still be a good deal even if it
does take 5 to 10 years to obtain Planning' - the real question is WHAT
CHANCE DOES IT EVER HAVE OF EVER GETTING PLANNING PERMISSION? Not
only are you paying an over-inflated price of £32K+ per acre for
agricultural land to begin with (normally £4K to £8K) but the chances
are that the parcel of land you have just purchased will always remain just
that - AGRICULTURAL - Hooray!!! You have just become a lifelong token
farmer.
Why I am sceptical and cynical about some of these
companies that are packaging up so called 'Building plots' like this of huge
chunks of land (mostly in the Green Belt I may add) is that their presentation
methods are squarely aimed at the unsuspecting public using all the visual
and presentation tricks they can in order to sell this 'dream' of your very
own detached 5 bedroom house in the country. These 'deals' also appeal
to the 'easy fortune hunters', the 'quick buck' brigade that dupe themselves
into thinking that this is a short to medium term sure bet investment - after
all, land values never go down do they?
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Well let me play devils advocate for the moment
and give you some reasons why most of these speculative mass land plot schemes
may be potentially flawed.....
1. The land is usually
within Green Belt or other controlled areas unlikely to ever receive
Planning permission without a major 'U' turn or change in Government Policy.
In most cases this is what needs to happen if any stand a chance of
being granted Planning Permission. I really do not see this happening
across the board in the UK - perhaps in some specific locations where
precise and exact reasons will be given for allowing development very much
relevant to the local area and its merits.
2. All the land plots and
estate layouts I have so far seen simply pander to the publics dream vision
of a large detached dwelling on a large plot - This is not the type of
housing or efficient use of prime building land that this country needs or
will be encouraged by Government on a mass scale - whatever the colour of
the government is at the time.
3. None of the estate layout
plots conforms to any suggested Planning Guidance (namely PPG3).
Therefore, even in the rare event a large section of protected
country land did receive Planning Consent for residential development it
most certainly will not be for the layout of the roads and plots already
sold to the various hundreds of people that now own their individual section
of the site - Can you honestly say that the Planners will approve a scheme
for the already sold plots at the first attempt without their own involvement
and guidance from their in-house or specialist urban design teams?
4. Can you imagine the logistics
of tracking, locating, contacting and re-negotiating with a 100+ separate
plot owners asking them to release or put back into the pot their land
to then have it re-divided up again and to then choose another plot(s) or
just have the increase in value money instead. Remember, we are dealing with
'Joe public' here and any professional land developer will tell you that
the more fingers there are in the 'land pie' the harder it is to get a final
agreement to implement the approved scheme - Sure 95% of the land owners
will be pragmatic and see common sense BUT it only takes a few complicated
people to prevent the estate development from taking place.
Some prime land developments that have received approval have
remained dormant for years or never implemented due to the actions (or
non-actions) of one or more obstructive land owners. In 10 to 20 years
time some plot owners would have vanished, be untraceable, changed hands
or even died and left complicated estates to be battled out at court by relatives
not to mention the arrogant plot owner who thinks he deserves more re-allocated
plot allowance or more money can stop a development scheme from starting
or being sold on dead in its tracks. Even if the land plot companies
have legal machinery in place to control these events I guarantee it will
not cover all the eventualities - remember, there is NOTHING AS FICKLE
AS FOLK!
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5. Now that you have 100+
plot owners actually owning clearly defined building plots, many will
not want to wait for the master plan to be approved in 20+ years
time - they will get impatient and start submitting their own disjointed
Planning Applications or require fencing to define their own plot, or use
it to for storage or to erect a shed or build a boat on etc. - the list as
to what 100 individuals may desire for their own piece of land is endless
and a mine-field for the adjoining neighbours and Local Authority to
control.
6. Planners and Government
love control - Do you really think they would allow a huge housing estate
to comprise of individually built houses with no real overall design style
or theme for the entire estate - simply left up to the design discretion
of each land owner? Therefore again, this reinforces my view that selling
individual plots like this and casting the layout of the estate in stone
with so many individual plot owners is NOT the correct way to develop a site
for housing. The design of any development site is a continuing
stream of ideas and proposals between the designers and the Local Authority
that is ever changing and evolving to accommodate Planning Issues. Most
schemes now for large development sites require social housing and other
amenities to be incorporated - some schemes have set aside a percentage of
the land for this use as a bargaining tool with the Council but who says
that the land retained for this use is in the right location to begin
with?
7. Some plots I have seen
encompass woodlands, hedge rows, ponds and thickets of trees. Most rural
developments are supposed to respect and work with the established natural
environment - again no thought seems to have been given to the plot layout
to work with this important aspect of site design.
8. Some companies also
imply that if you then join some sort of 'plot owners association' it will
add strength to the lobbying committee (by virtue of numbers) to release
more land for development on the premise that these 'poor homeless' plot
owners simply want to build their own 'affordable' house. This argument
is entirely scuppered by the fact that most plot owners are purely speculators
not too dissimilar with the current over blown 'Buy to Let' market. If
all buy to let properties came back onto the market for owner occupiers only
it would easily accommodate most of the housing demand and lower prices to
more affordable levels but at the cost of destabilising the housing
market.
My conclusion to this growing
mass plot land sale of agricultural land without a valid Building Permission
is that it merely serves as a tool to maximise the previous land owners
sale value well above what its true agricultural value is and for the
companies setting up these sub-divisions to earn huge profits on the back
of the over-inflated land sales to the unsuspecting public at large.
AFTER ALL THEY ARE A BUSINESS TO MAKE MONEY. Also, most Farm or large land
owners are fairly canny people - do you really think they would sell potential
building land that could receive Planning Permission within the next decade
or two? - I doubt it.
At the end of the day it is simply a gamble
with very high stakes. Even for the odd success storey in the years to come
it will not be an easy ride for the successful plot owners for the practical
reasons I have already stated. However, it only needs one site to win
Planning permission within the next 5 to 10 years to instantly improve the
value of all the other pending schemes and it is at that point I may be tempted
to cut and run - to realise a small profit when you can rather than waiting
for a full consent that may never come in your lifetime. Would buy
one of these individual plots myself - NO. Would I invest in a
company that sold shares in a development land bank scheme that allowed
for the design flexibility required during the negotiations and Planning
application process - YES.
Some people I feel sure do not worry about the
length of time it may take to obtain Planning Permission and see it as a
'gifting asset' to pass on to their younger family and perhaps that may be
the right attitude to take if you really have no there use for the £16K
+ investment money at this time.
What are your thoughts? Have you been
tempted with one of these schemes? Do you already own a plot? What
is your perspective? Am I just being too cynical and cautious for my
own good? I would love some feed back on this issue.
Please remember, this is only a personal view from
a limited observation of these schemes and may not be fully conclusive or
represent a balanced viewpoint. Always do your own research first.
Our 'Maximum Build
Planning Guide' explains further the tactics involved when
developing land or a site for residential use and how to give yourself the
best chance of being granted an approval. There are some reals do's
and don't's that must be implemented.
The first part of most years brings a flurry of trade shows aimed
at the public and trade alike such as The Ideal Home Show, Interiors and
just recently the Building Exhibition at the NEC. It never ceases to amaze
me the amount of new gadgets and Gizmos (along with the usual tat) that companies
invent for our consumption. Most seem to have a shelf life of about
2 days once home where it is usually broken, binned or stored never to be
seen again. What seemed like a great idea turns out to be nothing more
than a poorly designed and manufactured item aimed squarely at the naive
and impulsive home owner.
New simple to understand
Planning Permission Guide...