- Planning authority
- Plymouth City Council
- Postcodes
- PL1, PL2, PL3, PL4, PL5
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 40°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.0 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Devon
What shapes a plot in Plymouth
Shadow is one reason combined gardens in Plymouth often work better. On 21 March the midday sun reaches roughly 40°, enough for a 5 m eaves line to shade about 6.0 m of ground, and by midwinter, at about 16°, 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.
How we’d take it forward in Plymouth
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 Plymouth City 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.
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
- Several owners have to agree, so a combined scheme usually takes longer to set up than a single plot.
- 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.
Your questions, answered for Plymouth
Can neighbours in Plymouth 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. Plymouth City Council decides any planning application on its merits.
Do we each need a solicitor for a combined scheme in Plymouth?
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.
How many neighbours in Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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.
Other options in Plymouth
- Bungalows on large plots
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Garage courts and yards
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Joint venture on your garden plot