Buying a house next to greenbelt released for development

Parliadam

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of purchasing a house (first-time buyer) which is sits directly next to a large parcel of greenbelt land. When viewing the property I suspected that the land could be developed at some point the future. After looking at the "preferred" local authority plan (runs 2023-38) I have discovered that the land has been earmarked for release from the green belt. I have three questions that I hope people might be able to answer.

1. Developers need to abide by certain planning conditions and have "very exceptional circumstances" to build on greenbelt land, and it's fairly clear that developments need to be sympathetic to the environment, location, listed buildings etc. But given that this piece of land is due to be released from the green belt, will these conditions no longer apply, and can a developer essentially do as they please (within planning regs and having approval)?

2. I'm about to purchase a house (well, bungalow actually), as a first time buyer, potentially at the peak of the market (we will see!). Am I insane for purchasing a house that could be devalued in short time by a (potentially) 76-plot development on the land right next door? Our hope was to add value to the house (it needs renovating and can be extended), not lose it (even though our intention isn't simply just to 'do it up' and move on). 

3. I obviously have nothing against the development of the houses - housing is needed. But can anyone speak from experience of living next to a new development, in terms of noise/disruptions etc, particularly if they work from home? How long would a 76-plot development take to build, for instance? 

Again, to reiterate, I have nothing against this development going ahead (the house isn't even ours yet). I just want to ensure that I'm not about to do something completely insane, potentially financially ruinous, while I still have the chance to pull out! 

Many thanks everyone.

ciderboy2009

I lived about 100 yards from a similar sized development just under 10 years ago - there was a large green between us.

The build took, in total, around 4 years.  During that time it could be fairly noisy during the day and, during the Summer, we couldn't open the windows on that side of the house due to the dust (which got everywhere).

Once the build had finished we went through about 5 years of horrendous parking in our street (they never put enough parking spaces in new builds) before we moved out.  We're still in touch with our old neighbours who still sometime have parking problems.

Personally, I would now never buy a house knowing that there was likely to be a development of that size taking place soon.

user1977

Parliadam said:

Am I insane for purchasing a house that could be devalued in short time by a (potentially) 76-plot development on the land right next door?

What makes you think it would be "devalued" by having a residential development nearby? It's normal for residential properties to sit among other residential properties. It's unlikely to have much current value added merely by having greenbelt land nearby - unless it enjoys a particularly outstanding view, perhaps. And in any event, everybody else will also be aware of the potential for development, so I expect that's already factored into its value.

The main risk would be trying to sell during the stage of there being a building site next door.

AFF8879

All else being equal (e.g. the property doesn’t currently have a spectacular view that a new development would destroy), any new development typically adds value to the area rather than detracting. So impact on house value wouldn’t put me off, but I would certainly be concerned about the noise/disruption of living next to a massive building site for a number of years.

pinkteapot

Fields behind us are likely to be developed in the next few years. To be honest, I wish they’d get on with it at this point. The fields currently have outline planning which the landowner sought and they’re now trying to find a developer to buy the land. My guess is that our house is currently un-sellable or would sell at a massive reduction because of the prospect of building work behind. Once the houses are up the value should rebound, possibly not to what it was before, but certainly to more than its present value. I don’t like feeling trapped in a house (because I think it can’t sell), even though we have no plans to move. I don’t know what we’d do if we had a big change of circumstances and had to sell. 

So, from my perspective, years of limbo is a big downside.

Soot2006

Once things are built one quickly forgets they haven't always been there. Provided it's a well-designed modern development, it should have green space within it and adequate parking.  We lived next to land earmarked for development and once planning was approved I spent a lot of money on a driveway in anticipation ... then, 2 years later, nothing had happened on the site and we were still using it for walking the dogs, etc.  We moved house not long after and apparently the development finally started, recently, 5 years after the first planning approval was granted. Between then and now there have been all manner of consultations, revisions to plans, etc ... The only really sad thing is they cut down a copse of ancient woodland allegedly "by accident" while removed Dutch-Elm Disease infected elms. Once the development is finished, I think it will look like it's always been there. Ironically, it disrupts me more as a non-resident as I get stuck in traffic trying to get through, whereas if I still lived in the old house I could have nipped out either side.

Incidentally, we had no trouble selling the house - multiple offers at full asking (2019) despite the searches revealing planning permission for 200+ apartments  across 5 multi-story blocks with the first one within 50m of property (although the 50m is actually just the new access road it tuns out). There are no other blocks in this otherwise semi-rural area so it's a real change of build type but needs must!