Planning promotion for garden plots in Margate

Planning promotion isn’t the right answer for every garden in Margate, and we’d rather say so at the outset than after months of work. It is more usual on larger sites, because part of the cost of surveys, legal work and marketing is fixed whether the plot takes one home or several.

Where it fits, the deal is simple to describe. We fund the application, the plot is sold with permission, and we’re paid from the sale, after recovering what we spent on planning up to the agreed limit. You pay nothing at the start. Where it doesn’t fit, we’ll explain the other routes, from an outright sale to a joint venture, and leave the choice with you.

White architectural model of a house at the front of a plot with two new homes at the end of the garden
Planning authority
Thanet District Council
Postcodes
CT8, CT9
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.3 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Kent

Margate: light, access and policy

At noon on 21 March the sun over Margate sits about 39° above the horizon, so a two-storey eaves line around 5 m high casts a shadow of roughly 6.3 m. By 21 December, with the sun at about 15°, that shadow is far longer. Thanet District Council will weigh how a new home affects daylight and sunlight to your house and the gardens next door.

Under promotion we test this before applying, because a refusal on overshadowing costs time even though it doesn’t cost you money. Moving the new home, lowering the eaves or turning the roof can make the difference.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Margate: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.3 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Margate: around 39° of sun at midday in late March and about 15° 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.

How we’d take it forward in Margate

Here’s what happens after you contact us about a garden in Margate. We start with a free desktop appraisal of your title plan, access and the policies in the council’s Local Plan, then talk it through with you. If it looks viable, we visit. If promotion fits, we send heads of terms, and your solicitor reviews them, with reasonable legal fees covered up to an agreed cap, before anything is signed.

  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. 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.

  4. 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.

Worth checking early

  • The plot’s price isn’t known until it’s marketed with permission; it depends on location, size, access and the permission itself.
  • You can’t sell the plot to anyone else while the agreement runs, so the term length matters.
  • You’ll live next to whatever is built, so the layout, windows and new boundary affect your house too.

Questions about garden plots in Margate

Can neighbours in Margate 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.

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

Thanet 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.

How is a promoted garden plot in Margate 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.

Is planning promotion available for a single garden in Margate?

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.

Other options in Margate

Planning promotion near Margate

Find out what your garden could become

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