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South Glamorgan: the planning picture
The garden plots that suit promotion best in South Glamorgan are often not single gardens but two or three adjoining ones put together. A combined site can carry one well-designed shared access instead of a narrow drive squeezed past a house, and the larger scheme spreads the fixed costs of surveys, drawings, legal work and marketing. If you and your neighbours are thinking along those lines, we can appraise the land as one site and explain how proceeds could be shared fairly before anyone commits.
Planning authorities covering South Glamorgan include Cardiff Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council.
How it works
Free plot appraisal
We check your title plan, access, the surrounding gardens and the policies in the council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) as a desktop exercise, then talk it through with you. If it looks viable, we visit. No cost and no obligation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Planning promotion in towns across South Glamorgan
Questions about planning promotion in South Glamorgan
Do you offer planning promotion for garden plots in South Glamorgan?
Yes. We cover all of South Glamorgan as part of our coverage of England and Wales. Promotion is one of several routes we offer, and the free appraisal tells you whether it suits your plot or whether a sale, an option or a joint venture would fit better.
What does planning promotion cost a garden owner in South Glamorgan?
Nothing upfront. We pay for surveys, drawings and planning fees, and recover them from the sale proceeds, within an agreed cap, only if a sale with planning happens. Our fee also comes from the proceeds, on a basis agreed in writing. Your reasonable legal fees for the agreement are covered up to a cap in the heads of terms.
Which planning rules apply to garden plots in South Glamorgan?
National policy in Planning Policy Wales (PPW) applies, alongside the LDP of the council where the land sits. Councils look at access, character, privacy, daylight, garden space, trees, parking, bins, drainage and flood risk. Practical rules matter too, including the Welsh requirement to deliver a net benefit for biodiversity and sprinklers, which every new home in Wales must have.
Can neighbours in South Glamorgan combine their gardens?
Yes. Putting two or more adjoining back gardens together can allow one shared access and a better layout than separate plots. Each owner keeps their house. The owners usually sign a collaboration agreement, with an equalisation clause so that value is shared fairly even though only one garden provides the access. Each household should take its own legal advice.