For this month’s Ponderings, we provide a brief update on a couple of successes handled by our Thrapston office over the last month achieved by the Planning and Development Team.
Planning Permission achieved off Main Street, Great Gidding, Cambridgeshire
Acting for a family farming partnership where the partners are retiring from agriculture, we worked with our clients to prepare a planning application for 9 residential dwellings on a former farmyard site in Great Gidding, Cambridgeshire. The site was well related to the settlement and we co-ordinated a team of professionals including architects, ecologists and other consultants to prepare a planning application which was then submitted to Huntingdonshire District Council. Due to lack of resources in the Local Authority, the timescale for determination of the planning application was extremely long but regular chasing meant that a positive decision was issued a couple of weeks ago. We are now preparing Particulars with a view to offering the site for sale on the Open Market.
Sale of Residential Development Site for 68 units at Thorney, Cambridgeshire
We concluded the sale of a 68-unit site at Park Farm, Thorney, Cambridgeshire to Allison Homes last week. Bletsoes have been directly promoting land at Thorney for our clients over a number of years and we previously secured a Phase 1 Allocation (91 homes) in the 2011 Peterborough Local Plan with the Phase 2 Allocation secured in the 2019 Peterborough Local Plan. The Phase 1 scheme was planned with the future Phase 2 development in mind. Having achieved an Allocation on the Phase 2 site, a conditional contract was negotiated with Allison Homes which enabled them to pursue a detailed planning application, at their cost/risk and to purchase the land on receipt of the planning permission for 68 dwellings. Allison Homes propose to start construction on the site imminently.
The above are just two examples of the work which we regularly undertake across the region within the Planning and Development Team. We have a good track record of promoting land for development, securing planning applications and agreeing land transactions with developers. Despite the uncertainty in the wider property market, we are still finding that there is considerable activity in the development land market, particularly for strategic sites with longer term development potential. The shortage of sites coming through the planning system may also help to support values, with well-funded developers keen to secure their future supply of land.
If you are interested in discussing any opportunities further on your landholdings, then please do not hesitate to contact one of the Planning and Development team.
Alistair Brodie (alistair.brodie@bletsoes.co.uk),
Andrew Middleditch (andrew.middleditch@bletsoes.co.uk)
Peter Moore (peter.moore@bletsoes.co.uk)
at Oakleigh House, Thrapston. (Tel: 01832 732241)
or Chris Templar (Chris.Templar@bletsoes.co.uk)
at our Stratford-upon-Avon office (Tel: 01789 722 677).
