NEW HOMES &
DEVELOPMENT
NEW HOMES AND SMALL SITES
We help small developers and landowners get planning permission for new homes: a single house on a plot, a replacement home, or a scheme of two to nine homes.
It starts with a planning appraisal. That tells you what a site is realistically likely to get permission for, and what stands in the way, before you commit to buying it or paying for a full design. Homeowners use the same report to find out whether a bigger idea is worth pursuing.
WHAT WE CHECK
The site’s planning history, including previous refusals and appeals. The designations that change the rules: conservation areas, listed buildings, Green Belt, National Landscapes, the South Downs National Park, flood zones, tree preservation orders and SSSIs.
Then the local plan and neighbourhood plan policies that apply, and the national policies that now carry the most weight.
PROTECTED HEATHS
Parts of our area sit within the zones of influence of protected heathland. Within 400 metres of the Thames Basin Heaths there is a presumption against any net new homes, and between 400 metres and 5 kilometres new homes must provide or fund mitigation. Similar rules apply around the Wealden Heaths near Thursley, Frensham and Hindhead.
Further south, overnight accommodation draining to Chichester Harbour needs a nitrogen budget and mitigation. These rules can decide whether a scheme is viable, so we check them first.
GREEN BELT
Around 61% of Waverley and 89% of Guildford is Green Belt. Extensions that are not disproportionate, like-for-like replacement buildings and limited infilling in villages can be acceptable. Most other new building needs very special circumstances.
A new National Planning Policy Framework published in August 2026 now treats sites inside and outside settlements differently. An appraisal tells you which side of that line your site falls.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
A written appraisal setting out the opportunities, the constraints and the risks, with a clear view on the most realistic route to permission.
Where it helps, we suggest the scale of development the site could support and list the surveys you are likely to need, so you can budget before you commit.
WHEN TO GET ONE
Before you exchange on a plot or a house with development potential. Before you commission detailed drawings. Or when an application has been refused and you want an honest view on whether a revised scheme can succeed.
APPRAISAL OR PRE-APP?
An appraisal is our independent view, written for you. Pre-application advice is the council’s informal view on a specific proposal.
Many clients start with an appraisal and then use it to shape a focused pre-application enquiry, which gets a far more useful answer from the council.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Start with a planning surgery. For a flat £95 plus VAT we will look at your site, explain the main constraints and tell you whether a full appraisal is worth commissioning. If it is, we will send you a fee proposal at no cost.
Prefer to talk first? Call us on 01428 892198.
Appraisals across six planning authorities
The same site can face very different questions depending on which side of a council boundary it sits.
Waverley has 43 conservation areas and around 1,800 listed buildings. Guildford has 38 conservation areas. The South Downs National Park has 166 conservation areas within or straddling its boundary, and its own Design Guide.
In September 2026 Natural England submitted a proposal to extend the Surrey Hills National Landscape by around 30%. It has no formal status until the government confirms it, but if it goes ahead more land in Surrey and East Hampshire will fall under its protection. We factor proposals like this into every appraisal.
NOT SURE WHERE
TO START?
Book a planning surgery for £95 plus VAT, or call us on 01428 892198. We reply to every enquiry within one working day.
Related services: Planning applications, Permitted development, Listed buildings and conservation areas, Planning appeals, Planning surgery.