The sites
Two rural holdings near Brentwood, Essex, both in the Metropolitan Green Belt. One was a house on just over a hectare with redundant stables and storage buildings on concrete hardstanding. The other was a working equestrian centre on around fourteen acres, with a brick stable yard and fields used for hay.
The brief
Both owners wanted to know what their land might take before committing to drawings, reports and planning fees. In the Green Belt that question turns on policy, previously developed land and local precedent, and it is cheaper to test it early than to learn the answer from a refusal.
What we did
- Site inspectionA visit and photographic record of each site, its buildings, access and boundaries.
- Pre-application case, eight bungalowsA planning statement and design for eight single storey homes in place of the stables and hardstanding, argued as previously developed land under national policy, with the council’s own land availability evidence and nine local precedents, submitted for the council’s pre-application view.
- Feasibility layout, equestrian centreAn outline layout testing around twenty house plots in three clusters at the edges of the fields, keeping the stable yard working, set against a comparable outline scheme nearby.
- A decision, not a gambleEach owner left with a clear view of the opportunity and its risks before spending on a full application.
The policy
Green Belt proposals are judged against the National Planning Policy Framework, including its exception for the redevelopment of previously developed land, with pre-application advice as the recommended first step.
The cheapest planning advice is the advice taken before the application.
The outcome
Read more about our planning services, and the four instructions on one Essex lane nearby.
