- Planning authority
- Dorset Council
- Postcodes
- DT3, DT4
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 39°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.1 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Dorset
Before you decide in Weymouth
Sometimes the best scheme in Weymouth takes in more than one garden. If your plot is short of access or depth, a feasibility study can test a combined layout with the gardens next door, as well as yours alone. We cover Weymouth and nearby places such as Portland, Dorchester and Poole, and in each case we show the owners how one shared access could serve several homes. Whether Dorset Council would support it depends on the design, the effect on the street and its policies.
From first call to decision
The next step is a free appraisal of your Weymouth garden. We look at the access, the shape of the plot, the title plan and the main planning constraints, then talk it through with you. Where the plot shows promise, we set out the surveys and design work it needs, with a written price for each stage, and you decide how far to take it.
Free plot appraisal
A desktop look at your plot, access, title plan and the planning picture, plus a conversation about what you want. If it looks viable we visit. There’s no cost and no obligation at this stage.
Scope and written quote
If you want to go further, we set out which surveys and checks your plot needs and what they will cost, in writing. Nothing is commissioned until you have agreed the scope and the price.
Concept designs and pre-application
Sketch layouts and simple elevations for the strongest options. Where it will help, we take one to the council for pre-application advice before anything is submitted.
Feasibility report and options
A clear yes, no or maybe, the reasons behind it, and the routes open to you: apply for planning, build, sell or partner. You decide what happens next, with no obligation to use us for it.
Worth checking early
- A feasibility study can end in a no; finding that out early costs far less than a refused application.
- Pre-application advice is not binding, and the council’s decision on a formal application can still differ.
- Some ecology surveys can only be done at certain times of year, which can affect the programme.
Weymouth: questions to ask
How many homes could fit in my garden in Weymouth?
That is what a capacity study answers. It tests options against separation distances from neighbours, garden space for each home, parking, bins and access, as well as the policies Dorset Council applies. For many gardens the answer is one home; larger or combined plots can sometimes take more. We show the options on drawings so you can see why.
How do I know if my garden in Weymouth is big enough for a house?
Size alone won’t tell you. What matters is whether there is a workable access, enough distance from neighbours’ windows, room for gardens, parking and bins for both homes, and nothing on the title or in policy that rules it out. A feasibility study checks each of those for your plot. The first stage, a free plot appraisal, gives you an early view.
Is my Weymouth garden in a flood zone or conservation area?
Both are public information. Flood zones are shown on the flood maps for planning in England, and Dorset Council publishes its conservation area boundaries and the listed buildings in its area. We check these as part of the free appraisal, along with Tree Preservation Orders, because each one changes what a scheme needs to show.
What if my Weymouth garden plot fails the feasibility check?
Then you know before spending money on a planning application, and you know why. Sometimes a smaller scheme, an annexe, or working with the neighbours next door changes the answer, and we will say if so. If nothing does, you keep the survey and the report for the future. You are under no obligation to us either way.
Other options in Weymouth
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Corner and side plots
- Sell part of your garden
- Joint venture on your garden plot