- Planning authority
- Boston Borough Council
- Postcodes
- PE21
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 37°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.6 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Lincolnshire
The local picture in Boston
With the sun at about 14° at noon on 21 December, and around 37° in late March, low winter light is a real concern for gardens in Boston. A new home that sits too close or too tall can leave your garden or the one next door in shade for much of the year.
Boston Borough Council will test this, often against separation distances in its design guidance. Many councils use around 21 metres between facing back windows, though your council’s own guide decides. In a joint venture you see the shading studies before we apply.
From first call to decision
Getting started in Boston is straightforward. Tell us your address and roughly where the garden runs, and we check your title, access and the planning position from the desk, free of charge. If a joint venture looks realistic, we visit, then explain the structures side by side so you can choose before heads of terms are drafted.
Free plot appraisal
We look at your title plan, access, neighbouring homes and the council’s planning policies, then talk through what might be built and whether a joint venture or a simpler sale suits you better.
Choose the structure
We explain the options side by side: a share of sale proceeds, a share of profit, a home back for your land, or a land payment plus a share. You choose what fits your plans and appetite for risk.
Development agreement
Your own solicitor and ours turn the heads of terms into a binding agreement. Your solicitor advises on the security that fits, such as the land staying in your name until a set stage or a legal charge.
Planning and build
We fund and manage the planning application, Building Regulations approval and construction, reporting costs and progress to you at agreed points. The council decides the application, and building control checks the work.
Worth checking early
- You’ll live next to a building site, and the new home’s design affects your own house and garden.
- A joint venture takes longer than any sale: planning, then building, then selling or handover.
- Development lenders usually want security over the land, which your solicitor needs to fit around your own protections.
Your questions, answered for Boston
Can I take a new home back instead of cash in Boston?
Yes, if the plot can support it. Under a homes-for-land joint venture, one of the finished homes on your plot, or the only one, is transferred to you with its own title and paperwork. The agreement fixes the specification and the timetable.
What if the build on my Boston plot runs late?
The development agreement should set long-stop dates and say which delays are acceptable, such as severe weather, and which aren’t. If a deadline passes without good reason, you should be able to end the agreement. Your solicitor will check your land and share are protected if that happens.
Can my neighbours join a joint venture in Boston?
Yes. Combining adjoining gardens can give a better layout and one shared access. Each owner keeps their house, has their own solicitor and signs up to a collaboration agreement setting out how the result is shared, including fair treatment for the garden that provides the access.
Who decides planning for a joint venture plot in Boston?
Boston Borough Council decides, using the council’s Local Plan and national policy in the NPPF. We prepare and fund the application and deal with the council’s questions, but no developer can promise the outcome. If planning is refused, you keep your land, and in the usual structure the planning costs stay with us.
Other options in Boston
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Large rear gardens
- Corner and side plots
- Build a new home in your garden

