Planning Officers from Mid Suffolk District Council are
concerned about a company that is offering land for sale as a
development opportunity without planning consent.
A land sale scheme has been identified operating in the Thorndon
area south of the town of Eye in Suffolk. Companies operating
these schemes seek investors to buy plots of land, often
Greenfield, in areas that have not been granted planning permission
and which have a strictly limited potential to ever be
developed. The operators of these schemes promote the plots
as part of future housing development. This scheme at
Thorndon requests an initial £500 deposit per plot.
The council is aware that land sale firms offer huge gains to
entice investors, on the premise that the plots of agricultural
land they sell will gain planning permission for housing
development at some time in the future, causing the agricultural
land to soar in value. Despite small print clauses pointing
out that these profits are not guaranteed there is a positive
outcome anticipated by the documents and the promotional material
is apparently supported by material from the BBC and Channel 4.
In the site at Thorndon, Planning Officers at Mid Suffolk are
concerned that people are being drawn into a deal that has little
or no chance of planning permission being obtained. The
scheme advertises a site plan (for illustration purposes) which
implies that the 11 hectare site will deliver 300 houses. The
site is in a countryside location, 0.5 km from Thorndon which is
classified as a secondary village in Mid Suffolk's Core
Strategy. This reflects the limited services and facilities
on offer. Future housing allocations will not be sought in
this area.
The council is taking action to inform the local press and
interested agencies about this scheme in an effort to explain the
circumstances further. Mid Suffolk Officers will be
contacting local television and radio who have covered similar
sales schemes in recent times.
If you have concerns over this and have already purchased some
land, please contact the Planning Policy section at Mid Suffolk
District Council via email:
planningpolicy@midsuffolk.gov.uk
ENDS
Media contact:
Vicky Smy, Senior Communications Officer - Mid Suffolk District
Council, telephone: 01449 724850, email:
vicky.smy@midsuffolk.gov.uk