HOW DO I FIND OUT IF LAND CAN BE DEVELOPED?
A practical guide to checking the development potential of land
If you own a piece of land, large garden, paddock or redundant building, you may want to know whether it could be developed.
The best way to find out is to carry out an initial planning and development assessment before spending significant money on designs, surveys or a planning application.
This involves looking at the planning policy affecting the land, its planning history, surrounding development, access and any physical or environmental constraints that could affect what can be built.
Some sites can be ruled out relatively quickly. Others may have development potential that is not immediately obvious.
The important thing is to investigate the right issues in the right order.
1. CHECK WHERE THE LAND IS LOCATED
Location is one of the first considerations when assessing whether land can be developed.
Land within an established town or village may have a different planning context from land in open countryside.
Start by identifying the local planning authority responsible for the site and understanding how the land is treated by the development plan.
Questions to consider include:
Is the land within an existing settlement?
Is there a defined settlement or development boundary?
Is the land allocated for development?
Is it within the Green Belt or open countryside?
Is it within a Conservation Area?
Are there other planning designations affecting it?
What is the character of the surrounding area?
Being outside a settlement boundary or within a constrained area does not necessarily mean development is impossible, but it can significantly affect the planning strategy.
2. CHECK THE LOCAL PLAN AND PLANNING POLICIES
The next step is to understand the planning policies that apply.
Local planning authorities publish development plans setting out where development should take place and the policies against which planning applications will be assessed.
For residential development, these may address matters such as:
The location of new housing
Settlement boundaries
Housing allocations
Development in the countryside
Infill development
Garden and backland development
Self-build housing
Affordable housing
Design and local character
Heritage
Transport
Flood risk
Ecology and biodiversity
It is important not simply to find one policy that appears supportive or restrictive.
Planning proposals are generally assessed against the development plan as a whole, alongside other relevant considerations.
3. LOOK AT THE PLANNING HISTORY
The planning history of the site can provide valuable information.
Most councils have an online planning register where previous applications, decisions and supporting documents can be viewed.
Look for applications relating to the land itself as well as neighbouring properties.
A previous approval may demonstrate that development has already been considered acceptable.
A previous refusal can be equally useful because the decision should identify why the proposal was considered unacceptable.
For example, an application might have been refused because of:
Poor access
Inappropriate design
Overdevelopment
Impact on neighbours
Flood risk
Landscape impact
Insufficient technical information
A refusal does not necessarily mean that the principle of development is unacceptable.
Understanding why a proposal failed is much more useful than simply knowing that it was refused.
4. LOOK AT DEVELOPMENT NEARBY
Planning decisions on nearby land can help provide context.
Look for sites with similar characteristics that have recently been developed or received planning permission.
These might include:
Houses built in large gardens
Infill development
Backland housing
Development on village edges
Former commercial sites
Agricultural or paddock land
Building conversions
Small housing developments
Nearby approvals do not guarantee that another site will receive planning permission.
However, they can help identify how the local planning authority has approached similar development and the issues it considers important.
Physical development on the ground can also reveal the established character and pattern of an area.
5. CHECK WHETHER THERE IS SUITABLE ACCESS
Access can be one of the most important factors affecting development potential.
A piece of land might be large enough for several homes but have no suitable way of reaching the public highway.
Consider:
Where vehicles would enter the site
The width of the access
Highway visibility
Pedestrian access
Whether land outside your ownership is required
Whether vehicles could turn within the site
The relationship with neighbouring properties
Whether additional traffic could be accommodated
Access is particularly important for backland sites, large gardens and land behind existing properties.
Where access appears difficult, it is often worth investigating this before progressing detailed design work.
6. CHECK FLOOD RISK AND DRAINAGE
Flood risk can fundamentally affect whether land is suitable for development.
The Environment Agency and local authorities provide mapping that can help identify potential sources of flooding.
However, mapped flood zones are only the starting point.
Depending on the site, consideration may also need to be given to surface-water flooding, groundwater, drainage and how water generated by new development would be managed.
Where flood risk is significant, specialist advice may be required before the development potential of the site can be properly understood.
7. CHECK TREES, ECOLOGY AND OTHER CONSTRAINTS
A site can look largely unconstrained until the physical and environmental issues are investigated.
Potential constraints can include:
Trees
Protected or important trees can influence where buildings, roads and gardens can be positioned.
Ecology
Habitats and protected species can affect both the developable area and the surveys required to support a planning application.
Heritage
Listed buildings, Conservation Areas and other heritage assets may affect the scale, location and design of development.
Topography
Steeply sloping or unusually shaped land may be more difficult or expensive to develop.
Utilities
Existing services and infrastructure crossing a site can sometimes restrict development.
Neighbouring properties
Privacy, overlooking, daylight, outlook and noise can influence where new buildings can reasonably be positioned.
The presence of a constraint does not automatically prevent dev
8. WORK OUT WHAT COULD ACTUALLY FIT
Once the principal planning and site constraints are understood, the next stage is to consider development capacity.
This is where planning and architecture need to come together.
Rather than simply calculating the area of the site and applying a standard density, an indicative layout can test how development might actually work.
This can help establish:
The number of potential homes
Appropriate house or apartment types
Building positions
Access
Parking
Gardens and amenity space
Relationships with neighbours
Landscaping
Areas affected by constraints
Several options may be worth testing.
A site that appears capable of accommodating ten homes might produce a much stronger planning and development proposition with eight. Equally, careful design may reveal capacity that was not initially obvious.
9. DECIDE THE BEST PLANNING ROUTE
Once there is a reasonable understanding of the opportunity, the next question is how to establish greater planning certainty.
A full planning application is not always the first or most appropriate step.
Depending on the site and proposal, the strategy might involve:
Further feasibility work
An indicative development layout
Pre-application advice
Permission in Principle
Outline planning permission
A full planning application
The appropriate route will depend on the complexity of the site, the planning risk and what the landowner is ultimately trying to achieve.
For example, someone looking to establish value before selling land may have different requirements from someone intending to develop the site themselves.
CAN I CHECK DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL MYSELF?
You can carry out a useful amount of initial research yourself.
Council planning portals, local plans and publicly available mapping can provide a considerable amount of information.
The difficulty is usually not finding information — it is understanding what matters and how the different issues interact.
A site might appear contrary to one planning policy but benefit from other considerations. Alternatively, land that initially looks straightforward may have an access or technical constraint that substantially affects its potential.
Professional advice becomes particularly useful where the planning position is uncertain, the land could have significant value, or progressing down the wrong route could result in substantial unnecessary expenditure.
HOW MUCH SHOULD I SPEND FINDING OUT?
It should normally be proportionate to the level of uncertainty.
You do not necessarily need to commission a full suite of technical reports simply to establish whether a site is worth pursuing.
A sensible sequence might be:
Initial planning research
↓
Planning and development feasibility
↓
Indicative development layout
↓
Targeted specialist advice where required
↓
Planning strategy
↓
Planning application
This allows expenditure to increase as confidence in the opportunity increases.
SWAP VIEW
One of the most common mistakes we see is starting with the planning application rather than starting with the site.
Before commissioning detailed drawings and technical reports, we would normally want to understand three things:
Is there a credible planning case?
What could realistically be developed?
What is the cheapest sensible way of establishing greater certainty?
Sometimes the answer is to proceed towards a planning application.
Sometimes it is to test the principle first.
And occasionally the right advice is not to spend any more money on the site.
Identifying that early can be just as valuable as identifying a development opportunity.
WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED TO ASSESS MY LAND?
For an initial assessment, you usually don't need a complete technical information package.
A useful starting point is:
The site address or location
A plan showing the land
Any relevant ownership information
Details of existing buildings or uses
Any previous planning applications you know about
What type of development you're considering
From there, the planning position and principal constraints can be investigated before deciding whether further work is justified.
WANT TO FIND OUT IF YOUR LAND CAN BE DEVELOPED?
If you own a garden, paddock, vacant site, building or other piece of land, SWAP can provide an initial assessment of its development potential.
We combine planning, architecture and development experience to consider whether there is a credible development opportunity, what might realistically be achievable and the most appropriate next step.
Send us the site address or location, a plan if you have one, and a brief description of what you're considering.