Combine back gardens with your neighbours in Connah's Quay

Talking to the neighbours is usually the first hurdle in Connah’s Quay, not planning. Some owners are keen, some need time, and some will never want to take part. A combined scheme only needs the gardens that make a workable site, and the one that provides the access matters most.

We can help with that conversation if you’d like, explaining the scheme and the routes plainly to everyone. We never approach your neighbours without your agreement. Each owner keeps their house, signs nothing until they’ve had their own legal advice, and can decide not to take part.

Aerial view of a row of semi-detached houses whose garden ends have been combined into one plot with a new access
Planning authority
Flintshire County Council
Postcodes
CH5
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.7 m
Planning plan
LDP
County
Clwyd

What shapes a plot in Connah's Quay

Overlooking decides many garden schemes in Connah’s Quay. With the noon sun at about 37° in late March, when a 5 m eaves line casts shade around 6.7 m deep, and with back windows facing in several directions, space matters.

On a combined site there’s room to turn the new homes, use single-storey elements near boundaries, and keep upstairs windows away from neighbours. Many councils use separation guides of around 21 metres between facing back windows, and around 12 to 15 metres from a back window to a blank side wall. Flintshire County Council’s own guide decides.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Connah's Quay: about 37 degrees on 21 March and 13 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 37°, shadow 6.7 m21 Dec, noon: sun 13°, shadow 21.1 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Connah's Quay: around 37° of sun at midday in late March and about 13° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

What happens next in Connah's Quay

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 Flintshire County Council.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Agree how value is shared

    Heads of terms set out the route, each owner’s share, any extra for the garden providing the access, what happens if someone drops out, and the cap on each owner’s reasonable legal fees where it applies.

  4. 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

  • If the garden providing the access drops out before signing, the whole scheme may not work.
  • Tax depends on each owner’s circumstances, so each should take advice from a tax adviser.
  • Planning is still the council’s decision; a combined scheme is often stronger, but it can still be refused.

Connah's Quay: questions to ask

Do we each need a solicitor for a combined scheme in Connah's Quay?

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.

Who pays for planning on combined gardens in Connah's Quay?

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.

Does each Connah's Quay owner keep their own house and garden?

Yes. Each owner keeps their house and an agreed garden for it. Only the land behind is transferred, as a transfer of part at HM Land Registry. New boundaries and fencing for each house are agreed as part of the design.

How many neighbours in Connah's Quay 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.

Other options in Connah's Quay

Combine neighbours’ gardens near Connah's Quay

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.