Green Belt Redevelopment in Basildon to Provide 2 Houses
Planning permission from Basildon Council for two new homes in the Metropolitan Green Belt, overcoming agricultural land definitions and Green Belt policy through a carefully structured planning strategy.
PLANNING APPROVALSBASILDONESSEXGREEN BELT APPROVALS
Andrew Ransome
6/29/20262 min read
In 2019, Basildon Borough Council approved planning permission for two new dwellings on a Green Belt site containing a house, annexe and redundant outbuildings.
The key challenges were defining the land use of the agricultural outbuildings, establishing they constituted previously developed land, and demonstrating the new dwellings would not harm Green Belt openness.
Green Belt Redevelopment in Rural Basildon
Planning permission was secured from Basildon Council for two new family homes on a site in the Metropolitan Green Belt.
The site comprised an existing house, an annexe and a number of redundant outbuildings.
The client's aspiration was to demolish the outbuildings and develop two further dwellings on the land — a proposal that, on first assessment, appeared to have limited prospects given the site's Green Belt designation.
The first planning challenge was to establish the correct use classification of the redundant outbuildings the client wished to replace.
The distinction between agricultural use and previously developed land is critical in Green Belt policy: new buildings in the Green Belt are inappropriate development unless they fall within specific exceptions, one of which relates to the redevelopment of previously developed land.
Whether the outbuildings constituted previously developed land or agricultural land — which is explicitly excluded from that definition — required careful analysis of planning history and land use.
Given this complexity, a pre-application meeting was sought with Basildon Borough Council before any application was prepared. Careful preparation ensured the meeting was productive: the Council's thinking on the land classification and relevant policy issues was established, and the pre-application response provided a firm foundation from which a robust planning strategy could be built.
The strategy demonstrated that the outbuildings were previously developed, that the replacement dwellings would not result in inappropriate development in the Green Belt, and that the scheme would represent an improvement to the site's character and appearance.
Basildon Borough Council accepted the case and granted planning permission for both dwellings.
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If you have a Green Belt site with redundant buildings and are unsure of the development prospects, Contact me to discuss your site.
Andrew Ransome MRTPI - Email: andrew@andrewransome.co.uk
About me
Andrew Ransome is a Planning Director and a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), with more than two decades of experience in town planning.
He specialises in delivering strategic planning solutions for complex developments across both rural and urban environments, helping clients navigate planning challenges and unlock development opportunities. Connect with Andrew on Linkedin.
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Get in touch for planning advice: Email: andrew@andrewransome.co.uk
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