Housing Development Planned

[Deedle]

I am looking for advice if anyone can help me!
We received a letter yesterday from the District Council informing us of a planning application, made by a developer for 40 houses on a greenfield site at the back of our property.

One of the issues we have raised is the main entrance for this development will be through the end of an existing well established housing cul de sac. There will be another entrance/exit out the other side, thereby creating a through road.
Does anyone know the rules/laws about changing a road from cul de sac to through road? Can developers just do it? Do the residents have any rights?

Thanks so much in advance!

Do you have a neighbourhood/local development plan? You can find it by googling.

This happened to a neighbourhood near me, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it unfortunately. I would strongly suggest that if you do want to object that you research what you can actually object against.

You can write in with an objection to the planning application but beyond that there’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing to stop developers creating through roads or building on greenfield sites. Councils have been told to support developers to build and they will grant permission unless there’s a damn good reason not to (and if the developer greases the right palms they will grant permission even if there is a damn good reason not to!)

There is a local development plan that identifies the field as suitable allotment/open space for the local community. It was originally allotments and permission was turned down about 20 years ago because of this. The field was then bought by someone who efused allotments and has let it become so overgrown that, in his words allotments are not an option. He has refused the local development plan saying he is not willing to let it be used for the local development plan and a development is the only viable option. There are all sorts of concerns but the cul de sac one is massive as it is going to completely change the look/value/use of that road.

Of course the owner wants it used for houses - he’ll get a damn sight more money than he would for allotments!

The question is whether your county has an up to date local plan and whether they’ve been meeting their targets for house building. If the plan is out of date or the county hasn’t delivered the required number of houses in recent years then basically it’s a free-for-all for developers because the council will have great difficulty in refusing any houses that contribute to meeting that target.

The cul de sac isn’t an issue at all btw. Maybe to you... but it means zilch in planning terms. It isn’t a material planning consideration or a reason for the council to refuse permission.

I have the same issue and want to object

First of all, some of what you say is rubbish I’m afraid.

Your local parish council should have drawn up a local plan. This can identify areas for recreation or development. However if it is privately owned, and not owned by the parish council, they cannot tell the owner it should be allotments or used for recreation. It’s up to the owner. It would also be up to the parish council to buy it for what they want, but they haven’t. They should consider this or their plan is not going to be implemented. They cannot force the owner to agree to what they want.

Planning applications can be made by anyone. They don’t have to own the land. The developer will try and get pp and then make the owner an offer less the costs incurred in getting the pp. These can be high but if houses are needed, negotiations can take place.

However, is this land in the District Council’s development plan? That’s the key document . This identifies where housing will go. If it’s in this plan, it should get permission. If it’s not in this plan it might struggle. You need to do some homework.

Regarding road layouts, most developments now have a “meet the public” exhibition. Consulting engineers will design the road layout but it’s done to the standards required by the County Council’s highways department. These take safety and traffic calming into account. However if the cul de sac has space at the end of it for a road, then my guess is this could be a planned development, even if it was years ago or there wouldn’t be space left for a road - it would be gardens. It may well be that the Highways Authority prefer one entrance and not a through road though. It’s only 40 houses so one entrance and exit might be fine but safety and traffic calming will be a major consideration. Ask your highways authority for their current policies on estate roads and traffic calming.

But if it’s green belt (rather than green field) very special circumstances have to be argued for the development. Part of the consideration would be whether the harm by inappropriate (residential) development would outweigh the public benefit of additional housing.

In my local area it probably wouldn’t, because is an area that straddles the green belt so where sites for housing have been identified, they tend to be brownfield sites instead. Even where you have previously developed land in the green belt, development would only be acceptable if if would have no greater impact on the open character of the green belt than the buildings to be replaced.

But that’s green belt, different to “greenfield”. Worth looking into.

It is District Council’s that prepare development plans for housing. Not county councils in most cases. Cornwall do both but many others have split responsibilities between planning departments in the districts and highways departments at county council level.

Green Belt is utterly different from green field. No one has said it’s Green belt.

Yes, no one can be compelled as a private land owner to do what the development plan says - it’s their land! But there can be restrictive policies or designations within the local plan that can control or manage the way in which land is used and if housing is provided, how many houses, the estate layout, amenity space, dwelling sizes and so on.

The weight given to the local development plan will depend to an extent how old the plan is and whether it reflects later or current planning policy - the National Planning Policy Framework for example.

I know it is. That’s why I said it was worth looking into. Sometimes people use green field/ green belt interchangeably/erroneously.

Even if the land isn’t identified for housing in the county plan, if the plan is out of date or housing targets have not been met in recent years, the council will struggle to refuse planning permission.

Hi all,
Thanks for all your responses. The field is in the district local development plan but not for building work, for the allotment/open space - obviously they can't force the land owner to offer it up for that as they don't own it.

The owner has applied for permission in the past and had it rejected - we think the developer has agreed to buy it, if permission is granted.

There is another large development less than half a mile away (identified on the district development plan) which is in the pipeline, trying to find out what stage that is currently at but that is larger and not in an area at risk from flooding or one surrounded by properties on all sides.

We don't live on the cul de sac road, but a resident is about to try and put their house on the market and they are concerned about house prices etc. There is a children's park at the end of the road and they are worried about safety etc so the advice about the Highways Agency was really helpful :)

If planning has been refused previously then that might be a good sign (I don't want to get your hopes up) BUT was it for a similar sized development?

It's a common 'trick' to apply for X number of houses, have it refused and then apply for Y (I.e a lower number) which the planners then have little chance of refusing.

There are some great websites which tell you exactly what you can and can't object against. I would stick to your points and not get drawn into anything that isn't factual or a real planning reason