Tree Preservation Order

tomstanley

I wondered if someone could offer some advice. 

I've had an offer accepted on a property. The property is situated at the edge of a nice wooded area which is by far the biggest appeal of the property. 

I've done some research on the woodland and discovered that the local council have the whole area under a Tree Preservation Order. I was also able to obtain records from land registry and I can see that the wooded area was sold to a company in 2012 that specialise in building homes I also found out that there is legal access right in front of said property to the wooded area.

Basically alarm bells are ringing. I'm concerned that a few years down the line this lush wooded area directly in front of the property could be developed on.

The council said that the TPO does offer some protection but it doesn't 100% guarantee anything.

I wondered if anyone could weigh in and offer some advice? Am I right to be concerned? 

Thank you

juliedee4663

If the main selling point of the property for you is the woodland, then yes I think you are right to be concerned. I'm no expert but it could mean that there is no guarantee that 5, 10, 15 years down the line the woodland wouldn't be developed by the owners for housing. Just as if you buy a house with farmer's fields behind it there is no guarantee that in years to come that land won't be sold for development.

Mizydoscape

There's a small woodland near us that is subject to a TPO. There is also bats and other protected wildlife there according to a survey. They're still cutting the whole lot down for housing so that would be of concern to me too.

Stubod

..you can be sure that if the land is now owned by a company that's main purpose in life is to build houses, then at some point they will be doing exactly this.

If this is a concern for you then look at something else...

AdrianC

tomstanley said:

I've had an offer accepted on a property. The property is situated at the edge of a nice wooded area which is by far the biggest appeal of the property. 

I've done some research on the woodland and discovered that the local council have the whole area under a Tree Preservation Order. I was also able to obtain records from land registry and I can see that the wooded area was sold to a company in 2012 that specialise in building homes I also found out that there is legal access right in front of said property to the wooded area.

Basically alarm bells are ringing. I'm concerned that a few years down the line this lush wooded area directly in front of the property could be developed on.

The council said that the TPO does offer some protection but it doesn't 100% guarantee anything.

I wondered if anyone could weigh in and offer some advice? Am I right to be concerned? 

There's an old adage that applies perfectly to this situation...

If you want to control the view, you need to own the view.

Yes, there's a TPO on the whole area. That is on top of the planning process.
They cannot cut a single branch down without permission.
They cannot build without permission.
The planning process will require the environmental impact to be assessed.

It's no guarantee... but it's as close as you'll get without owning it yourself. There is no other way to absolutely guarantee it... and even if you did own it, there's compulsory purchase orders for things like HS2...

fiveacre

I'd agree with AdrianC that it's about as good as it can get without owning it, but I'm never a fan of buying something which can only get worse than its current state.

At least when you're next to a train line, or in a built up area, the potential pitfalls are well understood and can be reflected in the property value. When you a buy a great view or next to open land - it might stay like that forever, but it can never get better and could get a lot worse if developed because the local authority can't meet their housing numbers.

Section62

Stubod said:

..you can be sure that if the land is now owned by a company that's main purpose in life is to build houses, then at some point they will be doing exactly this.

I wouldn't be so sure.

They might own it to burnish their 'green' credentials by telling customers that they don't have to be worried about the wildlife bulldozed in building their home, because the profit is invested in maintaining protected woodland.

Or the cynic in me would note that people in the construction business often enjoy golf, shooting and fishing, and ownership of woodland might allow the directors to indulge in at least one of those hobbies at the expense of the company, along with entertaining business associates as and when. (Sporting rights have an investment value too)

If the latter turns out to be the case then the OP should be less concerned about the view, and more concerned over the regular noise of shotguns.

More research on why the woodland has an area TPO is needed, along with what use is made of it.

user1977

Stubod said:

..you can be sure that if the land is now owned by a company that's main purpose in life is to build houses, then at some point they will be doing exactly this.

It's hardly that definite, it's pretty commonplace for builders to buy land speculatively - sometimes nothing happens at all, other times it might take decades before planning and/or the economy makes development more likely.

OP, do the builders own only the woodland or do they perhaps own adjoining land too?

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

In my experience TPOs are upheld. However l would be looking into what the application to the whole area means as the development company might happily build between. 

Marvel1

I think of it as if there is land expect housing, the same as the house you are looking at to buy.

Ally_E.

Currently on the street we're buying on were 3 trees with TPOs next to development, the developer has excavated near the roots of 100 year old yew trees before tree preservation plan was put in place. Then commissioned an expert to declare tree doomed to die, the council agreed and allowed them to cut down the trees before any second opinions could be obtained. The trees are gone. Now the development has space for a small garden to sell the property for more profit.