Combine back gardens with your neighbours in Staveley

A shared access road is often what makes backland homes possible in Staveley. Instead of several narrow drives, one properly designed road with good visibility at the pavement can serve every new home on the combined land, keep cars further from existing windows and give bin lorries and emergency vehicles the room they need.

The household providing that access gives up the most, so an equalisation agreement usually gives them an extra agreed share. Every owner keeps their house and an agreed garden, and the planning application to Chesterfield Borough Council covers the whole site at once rather than plot by plot.

Aerial view of a row of semi-detached houses whose garden ends have been combined into one plot with a new access
Planning authority
Chesterfield Borough Council
Postcodes
S43
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.7 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Derbyshire

How it plays out in Staveley

Overlooking decides many garden schemes in Staveley. 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. Chesterfield Borough Council’s own guide decides.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Staveley: 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 21.2 mExistingNew home
Noon sun in Staveley on 21 March sits about 37° above the horizon, so a typical two-storey eaves line (about 5 m) throws a shadow of roughly 6.7 m. In December the sun is only about 13° up and shadows stretch much further. Drawn for a garden facing north, where it matters most.

How we’d take it forward in Staveley

To start, send us the addresses of the gardens involved in Staveley, 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.

  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. 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.

  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

  • Every owner’s mortgage lender, title and covenants have to be dealt with, and one problem can hold up everyone.
  • Tax depends on each owner’s circumstances, so each should take advice from a tax adviser.
  • Several owners have to agree, so a combined scheme usually takes longer to set up than a single plot.

Questions about garden plots in Staveley

Who pays for planning on combined gardens in Staveley?

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.

How many neighbours in Staveley 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 gets more if one garden in Staveley 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.

Can neighbours in Staveley 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. Chesterfield Borough Council decides any planning application on its merits.

Other options in Staveley

Combine neighbours’ gardens near Staveley

Find out what your garden could become

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