- Planning authority
- Royal Borough of Greenwich
- Postcodes
- SE2, SE3, SE7, SE9, SE18
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Noon sun, 21 December
- About 15°
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Greater London
The kinds of plot we look at in Greenwich
Sometimes the plot that works isn’t a single garden at all. Two or three adjoining back gardens in Greenwich can often be combined into one scheme with one shared access, giving a better layout than any of them alone. Each owner keeps their house, and a collaboration agreement with an equalisation clause shares the value fairly. If your own garden is too narrow or too short to work on its own, it’s worth asking whether the neighbours might be interested too.
Planning and light in Greenwich
Planning applications for new homes in gardens in Greenwich are decided by the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Its decisions follow the council’s Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Officers usually focus on access, privacy, daylight, the character of the street and the garden left for both homes. Many councils use separation guides of around 21 metres between facing back windows and around 12 to 15 metres between a back window and a blank side wall, but the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s own guidance decides. We prepare the application with care; the decision is always the council’s.
What we can do in Greenwich
Sell or partner
- Sell part of your garden
- Sell subject to planning
- Garden plot option agreement
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Joint venture on your garden plot
- Combine gardens with your neighbours
Design and build
- Build a new home in your garden
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Plot feasibility and design
By plot type
- Large rear gardens
- Corner and side plots
- Garage courts and yards
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Bungalows on large plots
What happens next
When you’re ready, tell us about your land in Greenwich. A few photos help but aren’t essential. We’ll come back with a straight view of whether the plot could take a new home and which routes might suit you, from a sale to design and build. If it’s not a good fit, we’ll say so, and there’s nothing to pay either way.
Questions about garden plots in Greenwich
How do you stop a new home in Greenwich overshadowing the neighbours?
By testing the layout against the sun and the council’s guidance. At midday on 21 March the sun in Greenwich is about 39° up, so a 5 m eaves line casts a shadow of roughly 6.3 m; in December it is far lower. Spacing, roof height, orientation and single-storey designs all help keep light where it belongs.
What happens if planning is refused for a plot in Greenwich?
If you agreed a sale subject to planning, the contract doesn’t complete and you keep your land. We’ll then look at the reasons the Royal Borough of Greenwich gave and tell you honestly whether a revised application, an appeal or stopping is the sensible choice. Nothing about your own house changes.
Do you look at garage courts and yards in Greenwich?
Yes. Garage courts, lock-up blocks, old yards and outbuildings behind houses can sometimes take a new home, especially where a vehicle access already exists. We check who owns the access, what rights others have over it and what the ground was used for, as part of the free appraisal.
Who decides planning for a new home in a garden in Greenwich?
The decision is made by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, using the council’s Local Plan, the NPPF and its own design guidance. Small schemes are usually decided by planning officers, and national and council rules set out when one can go to a planning committee instead. We prepare and submit the application and answer the council’s questions, but we can’t promise the outcome.