- Planning authority
- St Albans City and District Council
- Postcodes
- AL1, AL2, AL3, AL4
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 38°
- Noon sun, 21 December
- About 15°
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Hertfordshire
The kinds of plot we look at in St Albans
A bungalow on a big plot gives you more choices than most homes. You might keep the bungalow and build a new home beside or behind it, or replace it with two or more homes if the council would support that. We also look at long back gardens, corner plots, garage courts, yards and land with tricky access across St Albans and nearby places such as Harpenden, Hatfield and Hemel Hempstead. The free appraisal shows which of these choices are realistic for your land, and what each would involve.
Planning and light in St Albans
Small planning applications in St Albans are usually decided by planning officers at St Albans City and District Council under delegated powers, and national and council rules set out when, if ever, one goes to a planning committee instead. Either way, the application is judged on material considerations such as overlooking, daylight, highway safety and design, not on loss of a view or property values. A well-evidenced application that clearly addresses the policies in the council’s Local Plan gives your plot the fairest hearing. We prepare it with you and keep you informed; the decision rests with the council.
What we can do in St Albans
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
If you’d like to talk it through first, call us. There’s no script and no hard sell. We’ll ask a few questions about your plot in St Albans, explain how the free appraisal works and answer what we can on the spot. If it makes sense to go further, we’ll agree the next step together; if it doesn’t, you’ve lost nothing.
Questions about garden plots in St Albans
Who decides planning for a new home in a garden in St Albans?
The decision is made by St Albans City and District Council, 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.
How do you stop a new home in St Albans overshadowing the neighbours?
By testing the layout against the sun and the council’s guidance. At midday on 21 March the sun in St Albans is about 38° 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.
How much is my garden plot in St Albans worth?
There’s no honest figure without looking at the plot. Value depends on location, size, access, title and planning, and costs such as a long drive or difficult ground come straight off what the land is worth. Our free appraisal looks at all of that before we talk about price.
Do you look at garage courts and yards in St Albans?
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.