Call for sites - what do I need to know?

The most important factor is proximity to an appropriate settlement. Usually this means the county’s towns, cities and larger villages. A site for larger-scale residential development will usually need to either be within or about one of these settlements. Your local plan should note what it considers to be “major” settlements and have dedicated policies relating to them including sites they have marked for development in and around the settlement. Your objective in responding to a call for sites is to have your own land added to this list.

Not all settlements are equal. The local plan will assess some settlements as needing and able to support large numbers of new houses with others sometimes seeing much smaller allocations. Also, simply being next to a settlement is not enough in itself. When assessing sites the local authority will also consider the amenities available. What are the capacities of nearby schools and hospitals? Will people be able to walk to the shops? All of these and more are key factors in the sustainability of a possible development.

In addition, plans will often have a collective policy for smaller villages which can support some development rather than addressing each of them individually. The way these are often handled is that their parish councils may put in place “neighbourhood plans” which will incorporate these more modest development needs. The time to promote a site abutting one of these settlements therefore will frequently be at the drafting or review of its neighbourhood plan rather than at a county-wide call for sites.

Land designation is also an important factor. Some designations are less restrictive than others than others – for example, a local authority might accept in their local plan that a settlement in a national landscape can support a residential expansion, meaning they accept some development within the landscape in principle, but siting in a way that minimises harm will still be important. However other designations such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest or open access land of various types can make development difficult to impossible. High flood risk will also often remove a site from consideration.

Not every site marked for development on the local plan will be equally desirable to a developer. Some sites will be physically easier to develop, or less restrictive in planning terms in how they may be developed (perhaps requiring proportionally fewer affordable homes), or located somewhere particularly desirable to buyers. Noting these factors would help a good valuer to estimate the value of the land with planning, so informing your decision on whether to promote the site.

To bring a site forward you would usually instruct a professional specialising in development promotion. The larger firms tend to employ someone or a team for this purpose, and there are also smaller firms which specialise in exactly this kind of work. This professional will then produce a detailed report as to why the site is appropriate, often with support of subcontractors such as ecologists or architects. There are various types of often complex legal agreement with developers by which land can be promoted and subsequently sold, so good representation is very important here.

If you think that your site has potential for major development, please give us a call. Our advice team can conduct a desktop assessment to consider whether the site warrants further investigation, and can where appropriate then recommend specialist land promoters to help you to bring it forward.

If you have any questions, please contact Mark Burton on 01249 599059 or contact him by email