Brownfield Sites
Brownfield site refers to land that has previously been used for any purpose and is no longer in use for that purpose.
A stereotypical brownfield site may suffer ground contamination. A site investigation will be required to establish what the contamination is and the steps necessary to clear the ground up. Costs for this should be considered before buying a contaminated brownfield site.
In 2000 the Government set out in the document "Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing", commitment to build more houses on brownfield sites. Local councils were set targets for the amount of housing development on brownfield sites, giving strong encouragement to building at higher densities (30-50 houses per hectare), to better standards of design, and to building houses in more sustainable locations.
The policies of local plans control the location of new housing to determine built up areas where new housing may be permitted and countryside, where development is strictly enforced. A derelict house or run down out buildings in the countryside may technically be classified as a brownfield site, but more often than not protection policies will prevent this land being re-developed.
Houses and gardens as these fall within the definition of 'previously developed land'. The upshot of this is that local guidelines for higher density building means that houses with larger gardens may gain planning permission for a new house. This is reflected in both the number of people selling off their gardens, and in building plot adverts of "back garden plots" with planning permission for one or two houses. The value of residential land is very high and if you're very serious you could even profit from knocking down an existing house and replacing it with three new houses.
Some councils that were previously against this approach and may have rejected your original proposal. These should now be approved in accordance with the government guidelines, via a planning appeal.
