- Planning authority
- Amber Valley Borough Council
- Postcodes
- DE75
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 37°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.6 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Derbyshire
Before you decide in Heanor
Back gardens in DE75, 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 Amber Valley 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.
What happens next in Heanor
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 Amber Valley Borough 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.
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.
Worth checking early
- Every owner’s mortgage lender, title and covenants have to be dealt with, and one problem can hold up everyone.
- The owner of the access garden will live beside a shared road, which is why that garden often receives an extra share.
- Tax depends on each owner’s circumstances, so each should take advice from a tax adviser.
Your questions, answered for Heanor
Can neighbours in Heanor 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. Amber Valley Borough Council decides any planning application on its merits.
Will Amber Valley Borough Council prefer a combined scheme to single plots in Heanor?
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 Heanor?
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 gets more if one garden in Heanor provides the access?
Usually the owner of the access garden receives an extra agreed share, because their land makes the scheme possible and their house is most affected by passing cars. The exact method is agreed by everyone in the collaboration agreement before planning starts.
Other options in Heanor
- Joint venture on your garden plot
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Garage courts and yards
- Plot feasibility and design
- Corner and side plots
- Build a new home in your garden