Work together or you may lose out, say Solihull

freestock.com

In the last Local Plan, Solihull encountered difficulties with some sites put forward, and have the following advice:-

One difficulty was where sites in single ownership would lead to poor utilisation of land:

“Site submissions are often driven by the land that … happens to be in a single ownership. This can create smaller more inward facing developments that may be poorly connected to, or isolated from, the settlement that they should be a part of”

But connecting sites leads to a separate issue – that of landowners needing to work together:

“Where sites were in multiple ownerships and landowners did not have a formal agreement to work together… this can lead to piecemeal or partial proposals”

If submissions made in relation to land that the Council believes should be considered and developed more comprehensively, they will identify those and encourage joint working

“We encourage promotors to work with other landowners and promotors to ensure submissions are made on a comprehensive basis and welcome joint submissions”

To reach the allocation stage, the Council will require evidence of joint working such as a formal agreement or an equalisation agreement to ensure adequate arrangements are in place for sites with multiple ownership to be delivered on a comprehensive basis and avoid piecemeal development.

In other words, get an agreement in place!