Backland Development
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Combine back gardens with your neighbours in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Helping neighbours in Newcastle-under-Lyme combine their gardens is one of the routes offered by Backland Development, a new brand within the S&K Group. It suits streets where the land behind the houses is generous but access is limited, and where the neighbours would rather share one good scheme than compete with several poor ones.

We appraise the combined land, meet the owners if they want us to, and set out the routes: a sale, a sale subject to planning, an option, promotion or a joint venture. The collaboration agreement then ties it all together, and each owner’s solicitor checks it before anyone signs.

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Aerial view of a row of semi-detached houses whose garden ends have been combined into one plot with a new access
Planning authority
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
Postcodes
ST5
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.6 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Staffordshire

Before you decide in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Overlooking decides many garden schemes in Newcastle-under-Lyme. With the noon sun at about 37° in late March, when a 5 m eaves line casts shade around 6.6 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. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s own guide decides.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Newcastle-under-Lyme: about 37 degrees on 21 March and 14 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 37°, shadow 6.6 m21 Dec, noon: sun 14°, shadow 20.7 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Newcastle-under-Lyme: around 37° of sun at midday in late March and about 14° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

What happens next in Newcastle-under-Lyme

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 Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

  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. 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.

  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.
  • If the garden providing the access drops out before signing, the whole scheme may not work.

Newcastle-under-Lyme: questions to ask

How many neighbours in Newcastle-under-Lyme 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.

Does each Newcastle-under-Lyme 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.

Will Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council prefer a combined scheme to single plots in Newcastle-under-Lyme?

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 Newcastle-under-Lyme?

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 Newcastle-under-Lyme

Combine neighbours’ gardens near Newcastle-under-Lyme

Find out what your garden could become

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