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Wanted in Penrith

Development land wanted in Penrith

Development Land Wanted buys land of every size in Penrith and the villages nearby.

Penrith is in Cumbria, about 17 miles south-east of Carlisle. Nearby places include Carlisle, Kendal and Maryport. We are based in Great Barr, Birmingham, around 150 miles from Penrith, and we travel to see sites across England and Wales.

Cumbria has no Green Belt, but the Lake District National Park, part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the North Pennines, Arnside and Silverdale and Solway Coast National Landscapes cover much of the county. Housing land therefore concentrates around Carlisle, Kendal, Penrith and the west coast towns of Whitehaven, Workington and Barrow-in-Furness. Typical sites include edge-of-town fields, former industrial land on the coast and conversions of farm buildings.

In England, the revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August 2026 replaced the old "tilted balance" with new settlement policies: development within a settlement should normally be approved unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits, while land outside a settlement can gain support in defined circumstances.

Cumbria has no designated Green Belt, so the main policy questions near Penrith are usually the settlement boundary, landscape and access.

Land we want in Penrith

Edge-of-town meadow with timber survey stakes and orange marker pegs, houses along the far boundary

Residential development land

Around Penrith, the residential land that tends to work is close to existing homes, shops and transport rather than out on its own.

Vacant fenced development plot with a council planning notice tied to a lamp post and terraced houses beyond

Land with planning permission

For consented land around Penrith, the first things we read are the decision notice, the conditions and any legal agreement attached to the permission.

Gently sloping green field next to an English village with a church tower behind a hawthorn hedge

Land without planning permission

For land on the edges of Penrith with no consent yet, the first questions are access, flood risk and how the council's current plan treats the area.

Cleared former industrial yard with cracked concrete, a palisade fence and an old brick warehouse wall

Brownfield land

In Penrith, the brownfield sites we look at are often tucked behind main roads or alongside older housing, close to services.

Overgrown empty plot between two Edwardian semi-detached houses on a suburban street

Infill plots

We look for infill plots across Penrith and the surrounding villages, particularly where there is room for parking off the road.

Long rear gardens behind 1930s semi-detached houses with a gravel access lane along the bottom

Garden and backland plots

Around Penrith, garden land is most promising where a lane already runs behind the houses or two or three neighbours can sell together.

Horse paddock with post-and-rail fencing and a field gate on the edge of a village at evening

Farmland and paddocks

We are looking for farmland near Penrith with a realistic access, ideally land the owner has already put forward to the local plan.

High aerial view of large farmland fields beside a market town, a ring road and a river lined with willows

Strategic land

Larger landholdings on the approaches to Penrith are where strategic land usually comes from, particularly near transport links.

Corner plot of rough grass at a suburban road junction with houses along both roads

Small sites

We want to hear about plots for a few homes anywhere around Penrith, including ones a larger builder has already turned down.

Vacant single-storey industrial units with grey roller shutters and an empty tarmac forecourt

Commercial and industrial sites

Older business land around Penrith, especially units now surrounded by housing, is the kind of commercial site we would like to discuss.

Disused two-storey 1960s brick office building with an empty weed-cracked car park among houses

Redundant buildings

Across Penrith, empty offices, shops and former pubs can find a new life as homes when the building and the planning position line up.

Traditional red-brick barn with clay tile roof beside a modern steel portal-frame barn on a farmyard

Barns and rural buildings

We look at barns and rural yards around Penrith and give a straight view on whether conversion or replacement is realistic.

Row of lock-up garages with faded up-and-over doors around a tarmac court behind 1960s houses

Garage courts and yards

Across Penrith, lock-up blocks that are half empty can be a better use of land as homes, with parking handled sensibly.

Overgrown fenced plot with brambles and saplings behind a weathered hoarding between houses

Sites with lapsed or refused planning

We read the planning history of sites across Penrith closely; a past refusal often points straight to the fix.

Desk with a printed local plan proposals map showing coloured site boundaries and a housing layout sketch

Allocated and promoted land

Around Penrith, allocated sites and land put forward to the council are usually the furthest along, so they can often move faster than land at an earlier stage.

Ways to sell development land in Penrith

01

Outright purchase

We agree a price and buy the land, with no planning condition attached.

Outright purchase

02

Subject-to-planning contract

We agree a price now and complete once a satisfactory planning permission is granted.

Subject-to-planning contract

03

Option agreement

You grant us the right to buy within a set period, usually for an option premium, while we pursue planning.

Option agreement

04

Joint venture

You contribute the land, we fund and manage planning and delivery, and the proceeds are shared as agreed.

From first call to completion

Get in touch
Tell us where the land is and what you know about it.
Site review
We look at the land, its planning position and anything that could affect it.
Proposal
We put our proposal in writing, with no obligation to accept.
Exchange and completion
If you go ahead, contracts are exchanged and the sale completes on the agreed terms.

Development land in Penrith: common questions

Do you buy development land in Penrith?

Yes. We buy development land in Penrith and throughout Cumbria, as well as elsewhere in England and Wales. Tell us where the land is and we will give you a free appraisal.

Is Penrith too far from our Birmingham base?

No. We are based in Great Barr, Birmingham, about 150 miles from Penrith, and we look at land right across England and Wales.

Can an agent introduce land in Penrith to you?

Yes. Estate agents, land agents and planning consultants can introduce sites with the owner's consent. Any fee is agreed in writing before details are shared, confirmed by the owner in writing and paid only on completion.

Do you buy land in Wales?

Yes. We buy across Wales, taking account of Planning Policy Wales, Local Development Plans, flood risk under TAN 15 and, where relevant, phosphate issues in river catchments.

Got land that could take new homes?

Free, no-obligation site appraisal. We buy directly, with or without planning.

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