Backland Development
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Planning promotion for garden plots in Portland

If you’d rather find out what the market pays for your Portland garden plot once it has planning than accept a fixed figure today, planning promotion is built for that. We pay to seek permission, an agreed agent markets the plot if it is granted, and you approve the buyer and the terms.

A minimum price agreed at the start means the plot can’t be sold below it without your written consent. Sale costs, our capped planning costs and our fee are deducted on completion, and the balance goes to you through your solicitor. Value depends on the plot’s location, size, access and permission, so we won’t guess a figure before the appraisal.

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White architectural model of a house at the front of a plot with two new homes at the end of the garden
Planning authority
Dorset Council
Postcodes
DT5
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.1 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Dorset

Portland: light, access and policy

Every application Dorset Council decides goes on its public planning register, and a refusal stays there. That record doesn’t stop a later application, but the next scheme has to answer the reasons given. It is one reason we prepare a garden plot in Portland carefully before submitting: measured survey, access check, separation distances, trees and drainage.

We also check the planning history of your house and the gardens near it, and what the council’s Local Plan says about garden land. Past decisions on nearby plots are often the best guide to what the council will accept.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Portland: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 16 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.1 m21 Dec, noon: sun 16°, shadow 17.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Portland: around 39° of sun at midday in late March and about 16° 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 Portland

Nothing is signed until you’ve seen the heads of terms and taken advice. Call us or use the form with your Portland address, a rough idea of where the garden runs, and whether neighbours might join in. We’ll check the title, access and planning history first, then tell you plainly whether promotion, a sale subject to planning or another route suits your plot.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We check your title plan, access, the surrounding gardens and the policies in the council’s Local Plan as a desktop exercise, then talk it through with you. If it looks viable, we visit. No cost and no obligation.

  2. Heads of terms

    We set out the deal in writing: the term, how our fee works, the cap on planning costs we can recover, the minimum price, the marketing approach and the cap on your reasonable legal fees that we cover.

  3. Agreement signed

    Your solicitor and ours turn the heads of terms into a promotion agreement. It’s usually protected by an entry on your title, and if your house is mortgaged, your lender is asked to consent early.

  4. We apply for planning

    We commission the surveys and drawings, take pre-application advice where it helps, submit the application and deal with the council’s questions. You pay nothing at this stage, and the decision is the council’s.

Worth checking early

  • You can’t sell the plot to anyone else while the agreement runs, so the term length matters.
  • The plot’s price isn’t known until it’s marketed with permission; it depends on location, size, access and the permission itself.
  • On a single small plot, fixed costs and our fee take a bigger share of the sale price than on a larger site.

Your questions, answered for Portland

Can you look at my garden in Portland before I commit to anything?

Yes. The plot appraisal is free and carries no obligation. We start with a desktop check of your title, access and the planning policies that apply, then talk it through with you. If the plot looks viable, we arrange a site visit before any heads of terms are drafted.

Is planning promotion available for a single garden in Portland?

Yes, if the plot is suitable, though promotion is more usual on larger sites. On one modest garden, the fixed costs of planning, legal work and marketing take a bigger share of the sale. After the free appraisal we’ll tell you whether promotion, a sale subject to planning or an option suits your garden best.

How is a promoted garden plot in Portland sold?

After permission, an agent agreed with you markets the plot to builders, developers and self-builders. You see the offers and approve the buyer. The plot can’t be sold below the agreed minimum price without your written consent, and any offer from us has to stand up against the open market.

Who decides a planning application for a garden plot in Portland?

Dorset Council decides it, using the council’s Local Plan and national policy in the NPPF. Nobody can promise the outcome. Under promotion we prepare and submit the application at our cost and deal with the council’s questions, but the decision is the council’s, and it can grant, refuse or ask for changes.

Other options in Portland

Planning promotion near Portland

Find out what your garden could become

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

Get my free appraisal 0800 088 6248