Land sold with planning permission for 100 new houses on a greenfield site near Bearsted, Kent

An interesting project which took several years to bring to fruition but it was certainly worth it for our farming clients.

We took it from a field used for horses and sheep all the way through to a successful sale, with planning permission for 100 new houses, to a quality house builder.

It’s very satisfying to see a project like this through from start to finish, resulting in a brilliant, life changing result for our clients

How Did We Get the Planning Permission?

During one of our regular discussions with our farming client we were reviewing the development potential of the various areas of land that they owned.

From that review we identified that this land had characteristics that might give it a chance through the planning system. It was well located, a good size and relatively well screened from the landscape around it. We decided to put it forward to Maidstone BC during one of their periodic Local Plan call for sites.

I won’t bore you with how all of that works but suffice to say we managed to get their attention.

From that point on we then needed a partner who would be prepared to commit the large sums of money and time to the promotion of the land through the planning process. We invited appropriate Promoters to tender for the job and after much discussion we negotiated a suitable Promotion Agreement with a very good company specialising in getting planning permission on land such as this. Over the next few years, with their help, our planning consultancy team drove the land through the incredibly complicated and at times frustrating planning process. It was allocated in the Local Plan and then the Promoter put together a very detailed planning application with all the necessary supporting reports and surveys.

Several years, hundreds of pages of drawings and surveys, thousands of emails, hundreds of thousands of pounds, two planning committee meetings and a lot of tireless work later, we finally had the all-important planning permission.

I worked alongside Steve Davies from our Planning Consultancy throughout this project.

Sites like this one, with some quite vocal opposition, take attention to detail, creative problem solving, professional knowledge, perseverance and not a little tact and diplomacy to bring about a successful outcome. We like a challenge, especially when we succeed.

How Did We Sell It?

Once we had the planning permission and the threat of a Judicial Review came and went without incident we were able to offer the land to the circling house builders. This was a very good site. Just the right amount of houses to attract the national house builders and in a great location near the village, the motorway and the all important station. Developers knew that the price of new houses in this area would stack up well and they were all keen.

We embarked on a full marketing campaign and collected up the considerable interest from potential buyers. We then had many and varied conversations with the house builders to ensure they were all preparing their offers on the same basis before picking a day for the submission of their offers. We received 9 offers for the land. As you can imagine they ranged in price and we chose the top five to interview. Having sat with Land Directors and MDs of the companies at the top of our list, discussing the detail of the site we then asked for their best and final offers. They sharpened their pencils and sent in their best offers. From this process a clear winner emerged in Dandara Homes.

We then negotiated the detailed heads of terms and instructed solicitors. This was a complicated legal process and we had an incredible amount of work to do with the owner’s solicitor over the next year before contracts were finally exchanged. Much to the relief and celebration of us and our clients.

This was a thoroughly challenging and rewarding project to work on with a great team of professionals.

Other Professionals we worked with on this project

Hobbs Parker Property Consultants were delighted to work in conjunction with:

Maidstone Borough Council

Evans & Langford LLP

Peter Moore Acoustics Ltd

Lustre Consulting

Chartwell Tree Consultants Ltd

Trust for Thanet Archaeology

Corylus Ecology

BDB Design

RMB Consultants

Calumma Ecological Services

Purcell

Kent County Council Highways

Murdock Wickham Landscape Architecture & Masterplanning

SLR Global Environment Solutions

Barry Kemp Conservation Limited

Alan Baxter Partnerships LLP

Hook Survey Partnership

Crabtree & Crabtree Limited

Development Consultants

We advise clients throughout the South East on the promotion and sale of development land.

Read more

Advice for the development plan process

Hobbs Parker is one of the few firms who proactively advise clients about forthcoming changes in legislation and changes to the development plan.

Read more