- Planning authority
- Braintree District Council
- Postcodes
- CM7, CM77
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 38°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.4 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Essex
Braintree: light, access and policy
On many backland plots, access matters more than size. A long garden in Braintree may have no route to the road wide enough for cars, bins and emergency vehicles, and Braintree District Council will look closely at the effect of a new drive on the homes either side of it.
For homes in CM7 and CM77 we look at access first: the width beside the house, visibility at the pavement, and whether a strip of land owned by someone else sits in the way. If access only works by joining with a neighbour, we’ll say so, and promoting the combined site may be the better route.
From first call to decision
Nothing is signed until you’ve seen the heads of terms and taken advice. Call us or use the form with your Braintree 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.
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.
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.
Marketing and sale
With permission granted, the plot is marketed as the agreement sets out. You see the offers and approve the buyer, and the plot can’t be sold below the minimum price without your written consent.
Completion and payout
On completion, sale costs, our capped planning costs and our fee come out of the proceeds in the order the agreement sets. The balance is paid to you through your solicitor.
Worth checking early
- On a single small plot, fixed costs and our fee take a bigger share of the sale price than on a larger site.
- 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.
Braintree: questions to ask
Is planning promotion available for a single garden in Braintree?
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.
Do I pay anything upfront for planning promotion in Braintree?
No. We fund the surveys, drawings and planning fees. Those costs are recovered from the sale proceeds, within a cap set in the heads of terms, only if a sale with planning happens. Your reasonable legal fees for the agreement are also covered up to an agreed cap.
Who decides a planning application for a garden plot in Braintree?
Braintree District 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.
Can neighbours in Braintree combine gardens for a planning promotion?
Yes, and promotion often works better that way. Adjoining gardens can share one access and allow a better layout. Each owner keeps their house, signs an agreement setting out how proceeds are shared, and takes advice from their own solicitor. We can appraise the combined land as one site first.
Other options in Braintree
- Joint venture on your garden plot
- Sell subject to planning
- Combine gardens with your neighbours
- Sell part of your garden
- Corner and side plots
- Garage courts and yards