Buying a plot of land for a garden?

[Hyacinth23]

I live in a tenement flat in Scotland. I have no outdoor space but would like to buy a scrappy bit of something to use as a garden and for growing veg.

Around the corner from us there's a small lane running between two tenement buildings. There are some garages and some disused land. I've got the plans from the land registry and the space is owned by a property developer. The space is in a conservation area and does not have planning permission (currently).

I assume the developer is land banking, because my area is run down and they own parcels of land with planning permission in adjacent streets that have been untouched for 15yrs+.

Does anyone have any experience of trying to lease from developers like this? Is it worth even trying?

I don't know hte rules for Scotland, but in England you would need planning permission to use the land as a garden. Again in England you wouldn't need to own the land to make an application, as long as you serve the correct notices. It might be worth checking whether the same is true in Scotland before you start trying to deal with the developer.

The space was used as a community garden years back. The group moved to a bigger/better location but I presume there shouldn't be repurposing issues.