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Original poster

What are the chances of planning permission being allowed on greenbelt land?

32 replies

johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:00

We are in the process of buying a house. The garden is rented from the local farm for a nominal fee each year and it lies within greenbelt land along with the surrounds fields.

No planning applications have been made but I'm just checking out how easy/difficult it is to obtain planning permission to build residential homes on greenbelt. We are not planning to build but I don't want anyone else building on there either.

Thanks.

OP posts:
midgetastic · 09/10/2022 13:06

Well it depend on how much the current PM can duck things up

Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:06

midgetastic that's what worries me

OP posts:
bellac11 · 09/10/2022 13:08

Can you buy the piece of land? thats the only way you can be certain

People often talk about greenbelt as if you cant build on it, loads of greenbelt gets built on.

UserNameNameNameUser · 09/10/2022 13:08

Doesn’t that mean you could just lose your entire garden at little notice if the farmer decides to stop renting it to you? Or is it a very long term contract?

mongoosebaby · 09/10/2022 13:10

Check out the local plan for your area- it will be on local government website. It will show up any areas that are earmarked for possible development. They won't all be used but it will give you an idea of future building plans. Green belt land will be totally meanlingless if a new road or school or whatever needs to be developed. National parks or AONB are hard to get planning in. If you don't own the land, there is always a risk it will be developed!

Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:12

UserNameNameNameUser It's a long term rental and we've bought a piece of the land at the side of the house along with the house. I just don't want 2 semis parked next to our house in the future. There's lots of brownfield in the local area so I'd like to think they'd advise developers to use that first (if it was available)

OP posts:
Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:15

mongoosebaby no plans have been submitted or is it earmarked for development

OP posts:
FreddyHG · 09/10/2022 13:16

It does amuse me people buying houses on Greenfield land objecting to others building on adjacent greenfield land. Unless they want to return their house to greenfield. Either way the only way to guarantee this won't happen is to buy the land.

SlurpSlooChortle · 09/10/2022 13:16

There is a green belt land off our road with its own woods with families of deer and all sorts of wildlife and the farmer has sold it for 300 new homes to be build.

SlurpSlooChortle · 09/10/2022 13:18

The housing on our road is over 100 years old and all farmhouses and cottages before anyone assumes we have happily bought new builds that were built on greenbelt housing.

Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:20

freddyHG our house isn't on greenbelt. The boundary is in the garden.

OP posts:
Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:22

SlurpSlooChortle this is what worries me.

OP posts:
Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:22

We have asked to buy the garden but the landowners won't sell it to us.

OP posts:
Waxlyrically · 09/10/2022 13:26

It’s not impossible to build on it if there are special circumstances such as a lack of homes in the area. It’s less likely to be built on than other land though. Are you sure it is actually green belt rather than countryside or a “green” allocation made by the Local Council? Green belts are set nationally and there is often confusion between them and other local and less stringent planning allocations.

3peassuit · 09/10/2022 13:26

Are there any buildings on the land like disused small barns or sheds? I’m constantly amazed with what my local planning department allows as permitted development in the countryside.

MandyMotherOfBrian · 09/10/2022 13:27

Well, are you in East Kent? If yes, 100% chance atm. Seriously though, is the area one of the proposed new investment zones? They can be built on even if they’re protected areas for nature….

MerchantOfMenace · 09/10/2022 13:39

Also west Kent. Hamlet of farm cottages in greenbelt put forward for development of 4,500 houses. Minimum affordable homes but lots of money making opportunities for developers/landowners.

Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:46

I used this map urbanistarchitecture.co.uk/green-belt-map/ and the land is definitely within greenbelt.

I'm not in Kent, no. I'm in Lancashire. A new estate was built opposite the house last year but that land is not on greenbelt and is brownfield which there seems to be lots of in the area.

OP posts:
Original poster
johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:49

Thankfully not in the investment zones either.

OP posts:
Musicalmaestro · 09/10/2022 15:01

Is the garden actually cultivated or is it just grass? I think there has to be change of use permission to use farmland as a garden.

verdantverdure · 09/10/2022 15:12

Is it in an investment zone or freeport area? Planning and environmental laws are expected to be relaxed in those to suit the corporations who buy into them.

verdantverdure · 09/10/2022 15:20

johnworf · 09/10/2022 13:49

Thankfully not in the investment zones either.

Yet.

If areas of our country are going to be exempt from the usual laws then a housing estate at the bottom of the garden can happen to anybody.

bellac11 · 09/10/2022 18:26

Well looking at that map, there are barely any areas of green belt for most of the country

bigbluebus · 09/10/2022 18:29

If you buy next to a field then assume it could be built on. If that's a problem for you then either buy the land so you have control or don't buy the house.

When we bought our house we had a field (agricultural tie) opposite and next to us and a bowling green behind us. We are now surrounded by houses on all sides. We mitigated the effect slightly by buying a piece of land at the side of our house so that the next house was not built virtually on top of ours.

BlueMongoose · 11/10/2022 20:56

It depends on how local councillors feel about it as well as planners, which can be a bit 'who you know'. And for a big build, how much the developer donated central government at a political level can drive a development through (despite rejection by planners and councillors) for all sorts of no doubt totally legitimate reasons of national interest.