Backland development in St Helens

If your house in St Helens has a long back garden, a wide side plot or a row of garages behind it, there may be space for a new home. Backland Development gives you two ways to use that land. You can sell or partner on the plot and carry on living in your house, or you can keep it and have us design, get planning for and build a new home there.

Every enquiry from St Helens and nearby places such as Haydock, Prescot and Huyton starts the same way: a free garden plot appraisal with no obligation. We look at the plot from a desk, talk it through with you and arrange a visit if it looks viable. Planning decisions rest with St Helens Borough Council, so we never promise an outcome.

Planning authority
St Helens Borough Council
Postcodes
L35, WA9, WA10, WA11, WN5
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Noon sun, 21 December
About 13°
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Merseyside

The kinds of plot we look at in St Helens

Sometimes the plot that works isn’t a single garden at all. Two or three adjoining back gardens in St Helens 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 St Helens

If your plot is in St Helens, the application will normally go to St Helens Borough Council, which judges it against its Local Plan and the council’s design guide or supplementary planning document. Those documents set local expectations on design, parking, garden sizes and how new homes should relate to the street, while the NPPF sets the wider national framework. For an address in L35, WA9, WA10 and WA11 or nearby, the exact postcode also tells us which flood maps, sewer records and tree orders to check. Where it helps, we ask the council for pre-application advice before anything is drawn in detail.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in St Helens: about 37 degrees on 21 March and 13 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 37°, shadow 6.7 m21 Dec, noon: sun 13°, shadow 21.5 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of St Helens: around 37° of sun at midday in late March and about 13° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

What we can do in St Helens

Sell or partner

Design and build

By plot type

What happens next

The next step is simple. Use the form or call us with your St Helens address and, if you can, a rough idea of the garden’s length, width and how a vehicle might reach it. We’ll do a desktop check, talk it through with you and arrange a site visit if the plot looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.

Questions about garden plots in St Helens

How much is my garden plot in St Helens 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.

Is there a charge for assessing my plot in St Helens?

No. The garden plot appraisal is free and carries no obligation. We do a desktop check of access, size, title and the planning picture, talk it through with you and arrange a site visit if it looks viable. You can stop at any point without owing anything.

Can I team up with my neighbours in St Helens?

Yes, and it can make a weak plot workable. Combining adjoining gardens can allow one shared access and a better layout. Each owner keeps their house, and a collaboration agreement sets out decisions, costs and how value is shared through equalisation. Every household should have its own solicitor.

Can I sell part of my garden in St Helens?

Often, yes, if the plot is big enough, has a workable access and stands a reasonable chance of planning. We buy suitable plots directly, with or without planning, subject to survey, title and contract, or agree a sale that only completes if St Helens Borough Council grants permission. If planning is refused on a conditional sale, you keep your land.

Nearby

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.