- Planning authority
- Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Postcodes
- ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, ST6
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 37°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.6 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Staffordshire
Before you decide in Stoke-on-Trent
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 Stoke-on-Trent. 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.
Stoke-on-Trent City 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 Stoke-on-Trent 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.
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.
Sale or handover
The new homes are sold and the proceeds are split as agreed through the solicitors, or your new home is handed over with its warranty, title and certificates in place.
Worth checking early
- You’ll live next to a building site, and the new home’s design affects your own house and garden.
- Development lenders usually want security over the land, which your solicitor needs to fit around your own protections.
- We’re a new brand within the S&K Group, so ask for open-book reporting and check every protection in writing.
Questions about garden plots in Stoke-on-Trent
How long does a garden joint venture in Stoke-on-Trent usually take?
Longer than a sale, because planning, building and selling all happen before you receive your share. The council’s decision time, the build programme and the market drive the timing. We give you a realistic range for each stage after the appraisal rather than a single promised date.
Does my land stay in my name during a joint venture in Stoke-on-Trent?
It can. One option keeps the land in your name until an agreed stage, with us building under a licence. Another transfers it earlier with a legal charge in your favour. Your solicitor advises which suits you, bearing in mind that a lender funding the build will want security too.
Can I take a new home back instead of cash in Stoke-on-Trent?
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.
Can I do a joint venture on my garden in Stoke-on-Trent without paying anything?
In the usual structure, yes. You contribute the land, and we fund design, planning, construction and sale. You may still have your own costs, such as tax or your mortgage lender’s charges, so ask your solicitor and tax adviser to go through them before you sign.
Other options in Stoke-on-Trent
- Build a new home in your garden
- Bungalows on large plots
- Combine gardens with your neighbours
- Plot feasibility and design
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Sell subject to planning