- Planning authority
- Sunderland City Council
- Postcodes
- NE37, NE38
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 35°
- Noon sun, 21 December
- About 12°
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Tyne and Wear
The kinds of plot we look at in Washington
Sometimes the plot that works isn’t a single garden at all. Two or three adjoining back gardens in Washington 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 Washington
If your plot is in Washington, the application will normally go to Sunderland City 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 NE37 and NE38 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.
What we can do in Washington
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
Getting a first view of your plot in Washington costs nothing. Send us the address through the form, or give us a call, and we’ll check access, size, title and the planning picture from our desk. If it looks promising, we’ll visit, explain the routes that could work and put the main terms in writing before you’re asked to decide anything.
Questions about garden plots in Washington
How long does a garden plot deal in Washington 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.
Can I sell part of my garden in Washington?
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 Sunderland City Council grants permission. If planning is refused on a conditional sale, you keep your land.
What happens if planning is refused for a plot in Washington?
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 Sunderland 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.
Do you look at garage courts and yards in Washington?
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.