Councils do frequently sell off bits of surplus land and a direct approach is a great way of provoking them to do so.

The key elements for a direct approach to any landowner are to ensure you establish that you know what you are doing and are serious buyers; that you have the funds readily available to complete the purchase and that you are prepared to pay a fair market price; and that you have legal representation ready to act for you in the purchase, and suitable architects or planning consultants ready to address the planning application.

Your letter should suggest a basis for the purchase, namely either a conditional contract that completes when you get your permission, or an option to buy which you can exercise when you get permission.

Councils are often concerned that any development doesn’t adversely impact any other land or property in their ownership and that they can be seen to be getting the best possible price. The latter can lead them to insist the land is put on the open market rather than be sold direct.

One final tip… don’t expect anything to happen in a hurry, council’s legal departments are not known for their speedy responses. For a professional appraisal of your letter, you can contact me via Speerdade.co.uk and I’d be pleased to take a look at it.

Mike Dade (Build It’s planning expert)

Hi Deanphil,

With something like this, it’s important to understand the council’s overarching policies on development. This way, you can try to identify ways that your scheme might fit with the policies – or even if it could help them achieve their housebuilding targets. A good place to start would be to check out our planning expert, Mike Dade’s round-up of how government/councils are starting to look seriously at land release schemes.

You might also want to look at our advice on planning tactics, where we round up some of the more traditional routes to getting local councils on side with a self build scheme.

Have you thought about pointing your council in the direction of the government’s Right to Build initiative? The government needs ‘vanguard’ local authorities to develop robust methods of releasing land to self and custom builders; if you can enthuse your local authority about the idea then it might help both you and other self builders in your area! The government has already chosen some vanguard councils for the Right to Build initiative, perhaps yours could be next.

Chris (Editor, Build It magazine)