Several years ago one of our rural clients received a direct approach from a developer in relation to a parcel of land of around 10 acres which lay immediately adjacent to the Town’s existing housing stock on its south-western fringes. The matter was passed to our Planning & Development department who were engaged by the client for advice on the proposal.
Negotiations commenced but ultimately proved abortive and after approaching a number of other developers and promoters, a Promotion Agreement was negotiated with Fairfax Acquisition Ltd.
Like most Promotion Agreements, the Promoter was responsible (at its own risk) for all the up-front costs in obtaining a satisfactory Outline Planning Consent. If the application is successful, under the terms of the Promotion Agreement, the Promoter will receive a share of the net sale proceeds (usually around 15%) after allowing for it planning costs. It is fair to say, however, that this can be a lengthy and complicated process, often lasting several years and promoters will engage expert planning consultants and sometimes take legal advice on certain matters in order to maximise their chances of success.
In this instance, the original Outline Planning Permission was refused and appealed. In tandem a second application was submitted providing additional amenity land for which planning permission was granted at Committee in early 2022 for 80 new homes. The Section 106 Agreement, like most schemes provided for on-site affordable housing (in this case 25%).
On this particular site, it was also necessary to negotiate access rights over a small area of third-party land and terms were successfully agreed.
We subsequently approached a number of regional and national developers and after allowing for a reasonable period of time for them to thoroughly appraise the site, we sought offers on an informal tender basis. Following receipt of a number of offers, favourable terms were agreed with a national housebuilder and an unconditional exchange of contracts took place within only 2 months with completion taking place shortly afterwards.
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