- Planning authority
- North Yorkshire Council
- Postcodes
- HG4
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 36°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.9 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- North Yorkshire
Before you decide in Ripon
A combined scheme in Ripon has a wider pool of buyers than a single plot. Once the land has planning, it can be offered to builders and developers working in Ripon and nearby places such as Knaresborough, Harrogate and Northallerton, or further afield, who are often more interested in a site for several homes than in one small plot.
If the neighbours choose a sale with planning, the collaboration agreement sets out how a buyer is agreed. If we buy the site, the price is set by the route chosen. Value depends on location, size, access and the permission North Yorkshire Council grants, so we don’t quote figures before an appraisal.
How we’d take it forward in Ripon
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 North Yorkshire 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.
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.
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
- 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.
- Planning is still the council’s decision; a combined scheme is often stronger, but it can still be refused.
Ripon: questions to ask
What if one neighbour in Ripon 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.
How many neighbours in Ripon 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.
Can neighbours in Ripon 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. North Yorkshire Council decides any planning application on its merits.
Does each Ripon 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.
Other options in Ripon
- Corner and side plots
- Sell part of your garden
- Sell subject to planning
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Build a home for family in your garden
- Joint venture on your garden plot