Singing Pig

Our latest No Win-No Fee planning appeal success is at Wordsley, West Midlands - a single new building plot on an established large development. Our success fee is just over £7,000, from which our Agent gets 30% for finding the project.

But we just had an appeal refused for a caravan/camping site just outside a village in Suffolk, despite local recreation and tourism policies supporting it, and despite having recently won 6 other appeals for such development where the circumstances were almost identical !

That inconsistency in appeal decisions is quite worrying. The current government has introduced so many new policy documents that Planning Inspectors can "pick and mix" in their selection of policies to support any decision they care to make !

Has your company had experience of getting residential planning permission on land in an SSSI where they border SACs and they have agriculturally related use on the site already? I'm looking at a site where the owner is facing more enforcement action as they have built a house claiming agricultural workers need to be on site and the planners are refusing such permission and they have also refused permission for further agricultural development thus preventing the owner from increasing the financial sustainability of the site and hence further justify residential.

Also does your company have any good ways of valuing a site based on what exists now rather than on what its theoretical value might be if residential were granted? I'm struggling to find any good guidelines as I want to make sure I don't pay more than current value as any uplift is mere speculation  

TIA 

Another 2  NO-WIN-NO FEE successes arrived in the same post today (Saturday 22nd December 2007).

Two building plots from a very large garden at Seaford, Sussex and two building plots on land behind 4 terraced houses at Union Street, Finedon, Northants.

Each of those is worth £7000+ to us, and well over £100,000 to each of our clients (Who cares exactly how much they are making ? We've done 'OK thank you very much', and it's not ALL about making money. WINNING comes into the picture too !) And it looks like being a very nice Christmas this year.

Warning ! : Don't believe self-professed property "experts" (no names - no pack drill !) who reckon to make six figure profits regularly from their planning permission projects. Believe me, if it were possible, we'd be doing it. But £7,000+ a time is fine, thanks !)

srichards:

Has your company had experience of getting residential planning permission on land in an SSSI where they border SACs and they have agriculturally related use on the site already? I'm looking at a site where the owner is facing more enforcement action as they have built a house claiming agricultural workers need to be on site and the planners are refusing such permission and they have also refused permission for further agricultural development thus preventing the owner from increasing the financial sustainability of the site and hence further justify residential.

 Yes of course. (Please see our website.) And every piece of land that has no other planning permission has permission for agricultural use by default.

But, if your clients built a house without planning permission on the basis of THEIR opinion that they needed agricultural workers to be resident on the site .... well, frankly, they are stupid and are more than likely to end up pulling the dwelling down.

(The planners can seldom "refuse permission for more agricultural development" because you don't normally NEED permission for it ! But that doesn't include building housing for agricultural workers )

Also does your company have any good ways of valuing a site based on what exists now rather than on what its theoretical value might be if residential were granted? I'm struggling to find any good guidelines as I want to make sure I don't pay more than current value as any uplift is mere speculation  

No, sorry, we are not land valuers, although we have access to good ones if you need their services. Write to us.

Ta for the info. Matey has built a house on the land arguing  use for farm workers but has failed to offer any of the functional and financial proof required just to further make it difficult. 

I'm also looking to get PP to build on my current property so I might be contacting your company in the new year  

Weeeeell ... Matey could well be in VERY serious trouble.

One cannot simply carry out development based on one's OWN assessment of its justification. (OBVIOUSLY, or else we would all be engaged in a Free For All with development and there would be no need for any planning authorities at all !)

Whether your own proposals are sustainable is a different issue. See our website www.landplanning.org.uk and, in particular, the arrangements for Initial Assessment for No Win-No Fee terms.

It's a good guide because - obviously ! - we don't take on projects on No Win-No Fee terms unless we expect to be successful !