[robmanmanc]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forums but have been reading around this issue for a good while and can never seem to get to the bottom of it.

We recently bought a new house which is situated on 0.4 acres of land. One fo the previous owner bought the field to the rear and used it for riding ponies for pleasure with his children. Fast forward 20 years and we are now the owners of our home and garden and this 1.66 acre plot to the rear. There is access to the main road (which needs overhauling) down the side of our property (on land that is part of the house not the field) and we can walk directly into the field from our garden. The field has a railway down one side and neighbours a rented field which this year is being used to keep cows another smaller boundary is with our neighbours who have a large garden. Nothing in our documents from sale states what type of land it is but I am assuming it is agricultural.

We have no intention of building on the field and understand we can't just turn it into a garden. We had plans to make it into a nature reserve for private use but I feel nervous about what we can and can't do.

Could we for example:

Create a pond in the wet end of the field
Plant trees
Plant native shrubs
Plant an orchard
Plant a wildflower meddow
Put a shed of greenhouse on the land?
Would putting some standing stones up?

I feel like I want to speak to the council to clarify everything but I also don't want to draw attention to ourselves.

Any clarification would be welcome... we are based in Cheshire

[landroverroy]

Firstly - do not approach the council. This will alert them to the fact that you are planning to do something. It is possible they may be they may be friendly and helpful. But I have never found that.


My first thought is that none of the things you have considered are particularly obvious or likely to make an impact on the surrounding land. Trees, shrubs and wild flower meadows are in keeping with an agricultural use. And creating a pond in a wet corner would not be noticed., and difficult to prove you were not clearing out a pre existing pond.


As to whether you can claim the field is part of your garden is another matter. As it is accessed directly from your garden, it could be said to have become part of the curtilage of your house, over time and that would give you permitted development to put  up sheds and green houses.


I have a similar situation whereby I bought a plot of land and built a house. I gradually bought more land at the back of it and now have an acre. Technically only the first plot is my garden. But no one round about is bothered, or even knows the planning laws, and so I have extended the garden, planted fruit trees, and put sheds and a greenhouse up and no one cares as it affects no one else, and is the sort of thing you expect to see in a rural area.  Basically, unless you do something  incredibly intrusive and upset your neighbours, then no one is going to complain to the council.  The council will only investigate if someone complains.


That is how it works in practice! But if you want the cut and dried legal planning answer then you are best joining a planning forum where someone  will give you the finer technical answer.

[SallyintNorth]

I agree with everything landroverroy says, apart from the very first bit.  (We are blessed with helpful planners here).

I have no idea which way that dice falls in your bit of Cheshire, so would advise also caution unless you know the planners to be helpful and constructive in your area.

People in the countryside proper are generally laid back and community-minded.  So they operate with give and take, and reasonableness. 

But some parts of the countryside aren't like that any more, so that again is something we can't know about your area and nearby neighbours.  I would suggest sounding a few out over a few beers, once that's allowed

[doganjo]

I totally agree with LRR - I have tried it both ways - admittedly to build a house each time.

The first time I tried to do it 'by the book' and asked the planners what would be allowed/suitable for the area.  The person I spoke to told me that a house wouldn't be allowed there at all, full stop.  I was quite dispirited and left things for a few months.

I spoke to my nephew about 6 months later, (He's a commercial architect rather than a residential one), who checked all the planning conditions and told me he couldn't understand why she had said that, so he drew up a basic plan and we submitted a detailed plan for a four bedroomed bungalow.  There were a few objections but nothing to stop the consent and we got it   We included part of the fields in the curtilage of the house. - turns out the planning officer I had spoken to had friends who lived near me.

A few years later we had a plot left over and just went straight to consent - it went through in a couple of months.

[arobwk]

With what you have listed [member=212819]robmanmanc[/member] I would just get on with it !

Technically, you can't just put up a shed or greenhouse on virgin agri' land w/o letting Planners know, but if its unobtrusive/not an eyesore, very few peop's (neighbours) are going to make a fuss or even think about it. 

Pond:  if you're not tapping into/diverting a water-course to fill it, then, again I would say no problem - just an open puddle in an already swampy bit !

Standing stones: any dry-stone structures are, as far as I know, not subject to planning oversight/rules. A standing stone is just that (even if there are a few of them) I would say:  just do it. 

Trees and stuff are all fine as long as you are not planting acres and acres in a single stand and/or avoid making it look like a part of your garden: don't knock down any walls and make your planting beds (veg or "cut-flower" beds) look like you are involved in horticulture rather than gardening. 

Reckon you'll be OK.

[robmanmanc]

Thanks all for the responses. I was thinking I might speak to the council in general terms, say I am planning on buying a property with land as just generally ask what would be considered ok without giving too many details. They are supposed to publish this stuff online but I can see a thing on cheshire wests website and it directs me back to the planning porthole.

Thanks again for the responses, I think a few well place evergreen shrubs between us at the neighbours and to make sure it isn't blinding obvious from the railway (wouldn't want a planner on a day trip out to see it ha ha) to make sure that deciduous hedges give screening in winter and we will be able to carve out a little private area for a potential greenhouse. No one but us will ever be able to see it anyway.

Best to you all

[SallyintNorth]

As you are putting this hedging on agricultural land, can I suggest you make sure that none of the plants are toxic to livestock .   (So no yew, or laurel, or privet, or pyracantha... etc etc)

[thescot82]

Nothing in our documents from sale states what type of land it is but I am assuming it is agricultural.

I'm in almost an identical situation, only the property is in Buckinghamshire. Property is 0.4 acre but we will have adjoining land of about 7 acres. Similarly, there is nothing in the paperwork to suggest that the land is agricultural or not. I have yet to figure out how to best determine.

What make's it a little more problematic is that the house is on the edge of a conservation zone. The garden wall being the boundry of the conservation zone with the field on the other side. I'm not intending to build anything on it, but would be good to have the option of having a shed or two, maybe a greenhouse etc.

The field has a small stable block so we might one day have livestock but it's not an immediate consideration as we have no experience. So we'll likely rent out if we can and try to divide up the field a little so we can have some use.