5 Warning Signs of a Bad Plot

These signs may not always be obvious, but they can have significant implications. For example, if the site has been previously contaminated in some way, it would require expensive remediation to enable its safe development.

Furthermore, if there’s no previous development on a plot, it’s much more challenging to establish any baseline position for what scale, nature and location the planners might consider appropriate for a new house.

Read more: How to Value a Building Plot

That’s not to say it’s impossible, but it will certainly require more work to determine what might be permissible.

3. The site has a complex history of refused planning applications or appeals

When examining a site’s development potential, it’s always helpful to look at its panning history and understand the implications of this.

There are, of course, circumstances where what has gone before may no longer be relevant – if planning policies have changed, for instance. But this exercise always provides some indication of the issues that might arise in the context any new planning application.

Some plots can have a particularly complicated history, for example where a number of applications have been refused, or applications have made and withdrawn in advance of a decision being issued.

It gets even more difficult if they have been the subject of any unsuccessful appeals. All of these are an indication that the site may be challenging to achieve planning permission on, for one or more reasons, and you need to understand how this might affect your ambitions.

4. The plot is in a designated area

Sites that are subject of landscape designations or other designations are going to be significantly harder to develop than those that aren’t. National parks are notoriously extremely difficult, and the constraints within these will significantly limit development potential.

Areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), green belt, local landscape designations and protected woodlands are other factors to be aware of. All of these will make planning significantly more difficult to varying degrees.

Be aware that these can be applicable within built area boundaries, but are all the more demanding when coupled with open countryside locations.

There are also European ecological designations, such as sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), which go beyond local planning considerations.

They may relate to a variety of ecology, such as birds and other species. If located near to a potential building plot, they can make development hugely challenging and costly.

Even without this type of designation, the existence of wildlife on a site (particularly protected species such as badgers, newts or bats) can make development costly or difficult. So it’s vital to understand the situation and the implications from an early stage.

5. There’s a nearby waterbody

Some challenges go beyond basic planning constraints, and can be showstoppers in planning terms. One example is if a site is near a waterbody or waterway; or even if it isn’t, but is still prone to flooding.

An area’s flood risk level should always be checked as one of the first considerations when assessing a plot, particularly where nothing has been built on it before. Sometimes, with work and investigation, flood risk designations can be challenged to an extent, but this is a high-risk option.