- Planning authority
- Cheshire East Council
- Postcodes
- CW12
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 37°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.7 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Cheshire
Before you decide in Congleton
Shadow is one reason combined gardens in Congleton often work better. On 21 March the midday sun reaches roughly 37°, enough for a 5 m eaves line to shade about 6.7 m of ground, and by midwinter, at about 13°, the shade runs much further.
On one narrow garden, a new home can end up close to the houses on every side. On a combined site, the new homes can sit towards the middle, with gardens around them, and the shadows they cast fall mostly on their own land.
The next steps, locally
Once the group is interested, we meet the owners, together or one by one, and set out the routes and how equalisation would work. Heads of terms follow. Each owner’s own solicitor reviews the collaboration agreement and the sale, option or promotion documents, and lenders are asked to consent early. Then the single application goes to Cheshire East Council.
Free appraisal of the combined land
We look at all the titles together, the possible access points, the surrounding homes and the planning policies that apply, then explain whether a combined scheme looks realistic and roughly what it might allow.
Meet the neighbours
We meet the owners together or separately, explain how the scheme and the routes work, and answer questions. We don’t approach your neighbours without your agreement, and nobody is committed at this stage.
Collaboration agreement
Each owner’s own solicitor reviews the documents, and everyone signs a collaboration agreement alongside the sale, option or promotion agreement. Mortgage lenders are asked to consent early, and the agreements are usually protected on each title.
Completion and shares paid
When the site is sold with planning, or bought by us as agreed, each owner transfers their part, and the proceeds are divided through the solicitors exactly as the collaboration agreement sets out.
Worth checking early
- Planning is still the council’s decision; a combined scheme is often stronger, but it can still be refused.
- If the garden providing the access drops out before signing, the whole scheme may not work.
- The owner of the access garden will live beside a shared road, which is why that garden often receives an extra share.
Your questions, answered for Congleton
How many neighbours in Congleton need to take part?
As few as two can be enough. What matters is that the gardens taking part make a workable site and that one of them provides access to the road. We tell you which gardens are essential and which would simply improve the scheme.
Who pays for planning on combined gardens in Congleton?
It depends on the route. On a sale subject to planning, we normally fund the application. On planning promotion, nothing is paid upfront and costs are recovered from the proceeds only if a sale with planning happens. On an outright sale, we buy the land as it stands.
Do we each need a solicitor for a combined scheme in Congleton?
Yes. Each owner has different interests, a different title and possibly a mortgage, so each needs independent advice. On option and promotion agreements we cover each owner’s reasonable legal fees up to the cap agreed in the heads of terms.
Can neighbours in Congleton combine their back gardens for new homes?
Yes, where the gardens adjoin and there’s a workable access. Each owner keeps their house, the land behind is planned as one site, and a collaboration agreement sets out how the value is shared. Cheshire East Council decides any planning application on its merits.
Other options in Congleton
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Corner and side plots
- Sell part of your garden
- Build a new home in your garden
- Joint venture on your garden plot
- Sell subject to planning