Agricultural outbuildings. A golden development opportunity?

A golden development opportunity?

As this is a Bradleys blog I am assuming I am addressing an audience based mainly in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall – three rural counties accommodating a rich tapestry of Farms and smallholdings interspersed with a diverse range of agricultural outbuildings, whether a defunct piggery, barns, makeshift shelters etc.   

This year could be the year that these buildings come into sharp focus for residential development opportunities under a planning consultation carried out late last year – with very little publicity. 

The Government, rightly or wrongly, believes that a house building led economy is the chosen route out of a recession. After all, housing development and property moves tend to touch many other industries whether manufacturing or services. 

In an attempt to accelerate the provision of housing this government is looking for a multitude of ways of achieving this, and if this planning reform becomes planning law in April, just a couple of months away, there is the potential for agricultural outbuildings, irrespective of material condition, to attract a planning permission for either conversion or complete replacement to a residential dwelling or dwellings. 

Our advice to our vendors, since this little known consultation last year, has been to keep hold of the out building(s) they own until we all know what format new planning policy will take. 

So, if you have that outbuilding within your farm or smallholding or even attached to your farmhouse or cottage, don’t be persuaded by less informed agents to go to the market now, but to wait and seek the right advice after April in what is a rapidly evolving planning reform system. 

I am more than happy to advise potential vendors further on this point and if this applies to you please give me a call on 07968 137038 or email me chrisbaxter@beagroup.co.uk

 

Chris Baxter

Bradleys Land & New Homes Director