- Planning authority
- Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Postcodes
- ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, ST6
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 37°
- Noon sun, 21 December
- About 14°
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Staffordshire
The kinds of plot we look at in Stoke-on-Trent
Sometimes the plot that works isn’t a single garden at all. Two or three adjoining back gardens in Stoke-on-Trent 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 Stoke-on-Trent
Daylight is one of the first things Stoke-on-Trent City Council will look at on a garden plot. At midday on 21 March the sun in Stoke-on-Trent sits about 37° above the horizon, so a typical two-storey eaves line around 5 metres high throws a shadow of roughly 6.6 m. On 21 December the midday sun is only about 14° up and shadows are far longer. That’s why the gap between the existing house and the new one, and the height of the new roof, matter so much. We test layouts against the council’s Local Plan and any daylight guidance it publishes before anything is submitted.
What we can do in Stoke-on-Trent
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 Stoke-on-Trent. 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 Stoke-on-Trent
Do you look at garage courts and yards in Stoke-on-Trent?
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 Stoke-on-Trent?
The decision is made by Stoke-on-Trent City 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 long does a garden plot deal in Stoke-on-Trent usually take?
It depends on the route. A sale of a plot that already has planning moves at the pace of the solicitors and your lender. Routes that need planning usually take many months, because of surveys, design, the council’s decision period and any amendments. Design and build usually takes well over a year in total.
What happens if planning is refused for a plot in Stoke-on-Trent?
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 Stoke-on-Trent City Council gave and tell you honestly whether a revised application, an appeal or stopping is the sensible choice. Nothing about your own house changes.