- Planning authority
- Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
- Postcodes
- TS2, TS20, TS23
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 35°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 7.0 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- County Durham
What the council will look at in Billingham
Back gardens in TS2, TS20 and TS23, as anywhere, tend to be divided by fences, hedges and the odd tree, and a combined scheme has to work with all of them. Old boundary hedges may be habitat worth keeping, and mature trees may need an assessment before anything is designed.
We map these features across all the gardens at once, so the layout keeps what matters and the application to Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council shows how trees and wildlife have been considered. Doing it across the whole site is simpler and cheaper than doing it garden by garden.
How we’d take it forward in Billingham
To start, send us the addresses of the gardens involved in Billingham, or just your own if the neighbours haven’t been asked yet. We run a free desk-based check of the titles, access options and planning position, then explain in writing whether a combined scheme looks realistic before anyone talks to the neighbours in detail.
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.
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.
One planning application
We prepare and submit a single application for the whole site, with one shared access and a layout designed around all the existing homes. The council decides it, and nobody can promise the result.
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.
- Planning is still the council’s decision; a combined scheme is often stronger, but it can still be refused.
- The owner of the access garden will live beside a shared road, which is why that garden often receives an extra share.
Billingham: questions to ask
How many neighbours in Billingham 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.
What if one neighbour in Billingham changes their mind?
Before signing, they can simply step back, and we see whether the scheme still works without their garden. After signing, the agreements decide what happens, and they usually bind whoever owns the house next. Your solicitor will check those clauses carefully.
Will Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council prefer a combined scheme to single plots in Billingham?
It often gives the council a better scheme to assess, with one proper access and more space between homes. But every application is judged on its merits against the council’s Local Plan, and the decision is the council’s. We test the layout against its policies before applying.
Do we each need a solicitor for a combined scheme in Billingham?
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.
Other options in Billingham
- Corner and side plots
- Large rear gardens
- Sell subject to planning
- Bungalows on large plots
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Garden plot option agreement