Factory next door is being demolished

[Grunff]

Erm...

So they're knocking down the smelly, noisy factory to replace it with nice clean houses, and you're worried about how this will affect the value of your house??

[Matthew Church]

We have a smelly, noisy factory as a neighbour alongside our 120ft by

40ft back garden in Surrey borders. We have heard the factory may be demolished to build a housing development, and I was wondering if anyone can offer any links what we should do:

1) to protect the value of our house.

2) to capitalise on the value of our garden.

Thanks,

Matthew.

[Rumpy Pumpy]

lol, I'd sell up and get out ASAP if I was him!

[Anon.]

Why do you need to do anything? Surely the value of your house will be

*increased* by the replacement of a nasty smelly factory with nice quiet clean houses?

Find out who the proposed housing developer is and ask them if they're interested in buying part of your garden.

[Wanderer]

Hmm, apart from the fact that housing would seem preferable to a noisy smelly factory, the local Planning Authority is duty-bound to inform all

*immediate* neighbours of development proposals that might affect them. I'd start with the local planning office, ask them if they have anything in the pipeline for the site, and if so, why haven't they sent you a copy of any applications that might have been lodged with them.

Also ask them if they have published details of their local plan on their web site - most LA's now have web sites. Spend some time reading through both County and District development plans - or Unitary Authority if that applies. If not then make time to go into their offices and ask to read through the plan.

You'll need to read and re-read through quite a lot of it. See if there's anything relevant to the parish where you live. See if there's anything about housing needs generally. See if the government-specified housing requirement for the area has already been met from other identified sites. See if there's anything about civic amenities. See if there's anything about environmental impact. Check on highways development, also school needs and employment.

Where I live, the local council is going through the processes of a draft replacement local structure plan. We were notified of an objection to that replacement plan by a land owner who wanted to sell off a field presently outside the development boundaries for housing.

We had to do our homework, but throught he Parish Council we were able to persuade the District Council to reject the objection on the grounds of poor roads infrastructure, junior schools approaching capacity, little long term prospects of increased employment prospects, and that all government stipulated housing requirements for the area were being met on previously identified sites within the area as a whole, as well as environmental considerations.

In the end you may not be able to do anything about possible redevelopment, but at least you'll know a lot more about the local structure plan for the future!

[ARWadsworth]

As soon as the factory closes move your garden fence sideways by several metres during the night. Use old fence panels and rotting fence posts and then claim it has been your property for the last 20 years. Claim your squatters rights/property by use or whatever and you will have capitalised on your garden.

-- Adam

adamwadsworth@(REMOVETHIS)blueyonder.co.uk

[Quigs]

[robnews]

I was going to post the same thing, but in addition offer to sell the=20 "land grab" to them.=20

[Matthew Church]

It is good that the factory is coming down, but we do need to keep an eye on what will replace it, thanks Wanderer for your excellent advice.

[PoP]

How's about an immigration centre? Do you live in a Tory ward?

PoP

If you really must use the email address provided with my newsreader please be aware that the email is processed with spamcop. As a result your email to me might be treated as spam!

[RDS]

I was in a similar situation. There are only seven houses in my street, which has an unmade, unadopted road, and a factory which was to the side of us was sold, the factory also owned land to the front and rear. Long story short, we are now encircled by a modern housing estate, we have had bulldozers parked in the road, pallets of bricks left for weeks, half built walls, trees to the front and rear of the properties have been felled so my once reasonably secluded home and garden is now looked on by many others. We had the MP up to see us when the planning app went in as did another neighbour, totally uninterested. We complained to the council on occasion during the project and it seemed there was never much they could do to help. Now three years later they are just about the finishing touches are almost complete ( although the first houses were built and occupied within months) and luckily it seems to have had no adverse effect in house prices.

Good luck Rick

[N. Thornton]

Thats funny, but I'm sure the developer will have surveyed what theyre buying, and I think trespasss is a criminal offence nowadays. Not to mention the fact that neighbour disputes will lower your property value.

If you really want to capitalise on your property value, I imagine the possibility of building another house on your land would be the one to look into.

Regards, NT