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Local Land Promotion

Securing long-term development potential for your land.
Local land promotion offers a longer-term route to development value, targeting formal allocation through a Local Plan or Neighbourhood Plan rather than a speculative planning application. We help you understand whether your land has a future in a Local Planning Authority’s housing strategy, and how best to pursue it.

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A longer-term route to land allocation

Local land promotion targets formal allocation through a Local Plan or Neighbourhood Plan. Instead of relying on a speculative application, it takes a longer-term view. It positions your land for a Local Planning Authority’s future housing strategy. Every Local Authority must demonstrate a rolling 5-year housing supply, and strategic allocations play a central role in meeting it.

The Local Plan is usually the most effective route. The Local Planning Authority produces it, setting out where development will happen, what type, and how much. The process typically starts when you submit your site to a local housing land availability assessment. From there, our Planning and Development team makes sure decision-makers see your land in the right way.

Neighbourhood planning offers a further route. It gives local communities more say in how their area develops. The Localism Act 2011 introduced it, moving decision-making power from central government closer to the people it affects. Either way, our team can advise on your land’s potential for current or future allocation, and the best strategy for pursuing it.

KEY CONTACTS

Harriet Richardson
MRTPI
Tunbridge Wells

01892 509280
Email Harriet

Charlotte Catton-Giltinane
Assoc RTPI
Pulborough

01798 877555
Email Charlotte

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Once your land is allocated, what next?

Securing allocation is often just the first stage. Whether you are ready to sell allocated land outright, or need several ownerships brought together before a site can move forward, our Development Consultancy team can guide you through the next step.

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Common questions about local land promotion

Local land promotion puts your land forward for formal allocation in a Local Plan or Neighbourhood Plan. That way, it’s earmarked for future development instead of relying on a speculative planning application.

A land promotion agreement is a contract between a landowner and a land promoter. The promoter pays the cost of seeking planning permission or allocation, and takes on the risk if it fails. Once permission is secured, the land is usually sold on the open market and the promoter receives an agreed share of the proceeds. You keep ownership of the land throughout the process.

The Local Planning Authority produces the Local Plan, setting out where, what type and how much development will happen across the whole area. A Neighbourhood Plan works at a more local level, giving communities more direct input, within the framework the Local Plan sets.

Under a promotion agreement, the land is sold on the open market and both parties share the proceeds, so your interests are aligned with the promoter’s. Under an option agreement, a developer secures the right to buy your land, usually at a discount to market value once permission is granted. Both can tie up your land for several years, so it pays to take independent advice on the terms before you sign.

A windfall site comes forward for development unexpectedly, outside any formal allocation. Local land promotion takes the opposite approach: it works to establish your land as suitable for development ahead of time, rather than waiting for a windfall opportunity.

Every Local Authority has to show it can meet housing need over the next five years. Land formally allocated through the Local Plan or Neighbourhood Plan process forms a direct part of that supply.

No. Promotion strengthens your land’s position by establishing it as suitable for allocation. However, it doesn’t replace the need for a planning application further down the line.

Yes. This process often considers agricultural land a strong candidate, particularly where it sits at the edge of an existing settlement.