The Promotion And Sale of Land in Devizes

Carter Jonas is able to provide a complete service to landowners and developers, from the initial appraisal of potential development sites and their promotion through the plan-making process, to the submission of planning applications and the negotiation of Section 106 Legal Agreements.

At the same time our development surveyors can help to identify and eliminate any constraints that could affect the viability of proposed developments, before preparing and implementing appropriate disposal strategies to achieve our clients’ objectives.

Carter Jonas is retained by the St Monica Trust to provide planning and development advice on its land holdings across the country.

Under the guidance of Carter Jonas, the Trust has successfully invested in a number of estates where there is long-term development potential. An example of our comprehensive approach is the promotion and sale of land at Quakers Walk in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Realising the Opportunity
The Roundway Estate covers approximately 1,500 acres, with land adjacent to Devizes, the largest urban area in Kennet District. The Carter Jonas Planning team identified and promoted a 30-acre greenfield site to the north east of Devizes town centre through the Kennet District Local Plan Review process.

After much debate at the Local Plan Public Inquiry, Carter Jonas was successful in securing an allocation for the development of 230 houses and a new primary school.

The Quakers Walk site is the largest housing allocation in Devizes. It is a contentious site, with many local residents concerned about the impact of development on their adjoining properties and the historic Quakers Walk footpath. There are also concerns about the capacity of local infrastructure to accommodate further housing growth, and in particular the impact of additional traffic on London Road, a principal route to destinations north of Devizes town centre.

Building relationships within the community
The Kennet Local Plan required preparation of a Planning Brief for the Quakers Walk site, before the District Council would entertain a planning application. This had to be subject to extensive public consultation.

Carter Jonas assembled a project team to prepare initial proposals for the site, produce the exhibition boards and organise the consultation events. It was agreed with Officers that the initial consultation programme should consist of a public exhibition, supplemented by two discussion forums. To ensure an
inclusive consultation programme, the public exhibition was widely publicised, with over 400 letters sent to local residents, editorial coverage in the local press and two interviews on BBC Radio Wiltshire. A number of local service providers, specialist groups and other influential third parties were also invited to attend the exhibition.

The public exhibition took place in January 2005. In excess of 150 people attended and over 50 people participated in the two discussion forums. A record of all the comments made during the initial consultation phase was presented in a Statement of Community Involvement produced by Carter Jonas.

Although some local residents remained strongly opposed to the development in principle, there was general agreement that the exhibition was clear and informative, and provided a fair summary of the main issues to be addressed through preparation of the Planning Brief.

The Brief was approved for development control purposes at a meeting of the Kennet District Planning Policy Executive in May 2005.

Maximising value
Carter Jonas has since prepared and submitted a planning application for the development of the site in accordance with the Planning Brief. Through detailed negotiation, we mitigated the requirements of the inevitable Section 106 Legal Agreement, before planning permission was granted in August 2007. As the planning process progressed, we also secured a legal agreement for the required development access to be taken across third party land, and acquired visibility splays needed for an emergency access and bus gate from the site. We also negotiated the release of the site from an agricultural tenancy, and resolved drainage issues before offering the property for sale on the open market.

With a full package of information on the site, including surveys, geotechnical and services reports, that would enable prospective purchasers to accurately appraise the site, it was launched onto what proved to be a very difficult market following the ‘credit crunch’ during the last quarter of 2007, with the objective of securing a sale before the end of the year. Maintaining the momentum of a competitive bidding process, this was achieved at a price close to £20 million.

Further development
Carter Jonas is now preparing a Planning Brief for the development of an additional site adjacent to Quaker’s Walk for a care village and other community uses. This land will be promoted through the preparation of the new-style Local Development Framework.