Could I build a house in my house?

[Dinodigger]

So we live in a semi on a cul-de-sac with a huge garden that we don't use. There is a right of way to the back of our garden through the adjacent street, a single track around 2m wide. The right of way runs through all the houses this side of the street and is a dead end. The deeds say this right of way can be used for vehicles and we all have a responsibility to maintain it.

Do you think there anyway we could build a house there when that single track would be the only entrance to the property? Or sell to a developer so they could do this.

Why couldn't you build a drive to the new house down the side of your plot? The house I live in once had planning for a house at the bottom of the garden with access via a long drive through the garden down the side of the plot boundary. The owner decided against it and built an extension right up to the boundary instead!

Oh hang on I see that would leave you with little garden - ignore.

well, except if you buy the land from them, and they also are not really using the end of their garden, it could be a financial windfall that they need?

We have a long garden, if my neighbours bought it a strip from me and it was enough for me to finally do my patio, I would consider it.

Good thinking @steppemum, that had completely passed me by as OP said there was already an access road. Reading over again, I see it's not quite wide enough, so buying land off those neighbours would be helpful.

We had exactly the same situation as you. Any new house had to be within the existing building line. It wouldn't have been so we were not allowed planning permission despite having a huge garden and separateentrance from a different track . Easiest thing is to phone the planning department and discuss it. It will very quickly be a yes or no

If it were me, I would put in permission for driveway and parking at the bottom of the garden (for your own use) first, and see how that goes down.

There is probably a reason why a house has never been built there in the first place.

Could you get a fire engine or an ambulance up the PROW? Is it muddy or paved? Would a postman and delivery men be able to access it?
Is it a public ROW or just a ROW for people who live there?
If constant use affected the ROW so much that the maintenance increased, who would be liable for those costs?
So many questions without answers!

I am curious by all the commets about fire engines.

we have a lot of houses round here which are accessible by foot only, down side alleys.
They aren't that old either. Modern housing build to be pedestrian friendly.
(I don't like them, shopping, babie and unloading/loading car etc etc, but they exist)

Is this a legal requirement?

How is it different to people who live on narrow streets with steps, etc.? Places with pedestrian only access.

The postbox could be at the edge of the property couldn't it? As often happens with homes set off from the main road.

Except they don't own any of the land at the roadside.

I wonder if a new house would need to have access from the actual road. The other people you can contact about planning are local architects as they will have experience of working with the local planning.

Highways would be the consultee for using the access road. What are sightlines like at that point?

It looks like there is a precedent to build on that plot. I think planning would be ok - especially if you live in an area with housing demand. You'd have to maintain the right of way though. Can you design a solution that allows that?

where is the precedent?

There is no precedent shown there!
I've been in planning for over 30 years and there is no way you can say planning would be ok on the info given!

OP you might want to speak to a local planning consultant (someone qualified in planning rather than an architect who isn't) for advice.

Do’s aunt had a bungalow set back from the road, with a wide driveway and access and a massive garden behind that. The only way that planning would permit development on the land, was if the bungalow and the house next door were demolished to make a larger plot. Access was an issue, because, although set back, the plot was on a very busy road,

I'd agree with PP - spend the money on the time with the council planners, and then you'll know if it's something to consider further or its no-go. If the former spend a few hundred on a solicitor to advise on the RoW issue. Then you can be fully armed with the facts.

I forgot to ask if you're in a conservation area or something similar? If so that will affect the position. Also worth having a look at the planning permission records to see if something similar has been done in your council area in the last few years. I know a colleague did this about 15 years ago, but I also know that the council PoV has changed since then so infill development is much harder now where I live.

Planning policy these days is generally against “garden grabbing”, so you’re probably going to need to pay for that conversation with the planning department.

I'd say no

The only way would be for all properties on your street to sell a share of their gardens and also give up the easement and thereby creating a much bigger plot which a developer can turn into a formal access

The access track is only two metres, and is shared by all the other houses? I would most certainly object if I also had right of way over the track and was your neighbour. It’s not your track. Also shared access land often belongs to one house with others having ROW over it. Who is this strip registered to?

where houses have been built in gardens here, the access has been down the front side of the main house so both houses are accessed from the main road.

Current planning regs say:

"13.1 For dwellinghouses, access for a pumping appliance should be provided to within 45m of all points
inside the dwellinghouse."

OP's diagram has no indication of scale, but I think it looks optimistic to think all upstairs rooms could be reached within 45m of the end of the ROW?

Not necessarily. I have a shared passageway between my new house and neighbour, and neither of us own it outright, but jointly have right of way over it. Same goes for the access road down the back of the houses.