Land without planning permission wanted in Penrith
Development Land Wanted buys land without planning permission in Penrith and right across England and Wales. Owners and agents are both welcome.
If your land has never had planning permission, it can still be development land. We check whether housing is credible under current policy and, where it is, propose a deal that shares out the planning risk fairly.

- Size
- Any
- Planning
- None yet
- Areas
- England & Wales
- Ways we buy
- Conditional, option or JV
Is your land in Penrith the kind we want?
Plenty of land around Penrith has never had permission. What we look for first is whether new homes would fit with the existing pattern of the place. Penrith is in Cumbria, about 17 miles south-east of Carlisle. Nearby places include Carlisle, Kendal and Maryport.
- Fields and paddocks next to existing settlements
- Plots within towns and villages that have never been built on
- Land where a previous application was refused for reasons that could be overcome
- Sites with a road frontage or a realistic access
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.
What decides whether a site in Penrith works
Who pays for planning
Applications, surveys and reports cost money; on conditional and option deals we normally pay for them up front, and any costs deducted from the price are agreed and capped.
Timescale
Getting permission can take months or years; we are honest about that from the start.
Your involvement
You can sell now, sell subject to planning, or grant an option; each asks a different amount of you.
National policy in England now recognises "medium development" of 10 to 49 homes on sites up to 2.5 hectares, and asks councils to allocate at least 10% of their housing on sites of one hectare or less and a further 10% on sites of one to 2.5 hectares.
Cumbria has no designated Green Belt, so the main policy questions near Penrith are usually the settlement boundary, landscape and access.
Our base is in Great Barr, Birmingham, about 150 miles away, and we buy land throughout England and Wales.
How we could buy your land in Penrith
Outright purchase
Possible where we are comfortable taking the planning risk ourselves.
Outright purchaseSubject-to-planning contract
The most common route: we fund the application and complete once permission is granted.
Subject-to-planning contractOption agreement
Suits bigger sites or longer timescales; you are paid a premium and keep the land meanwhile.
Option agreementJoint venture
For owners who want a bigger share of the upside in return for more risk.
Joint ventureThe next steps
Send the basics
A postcode or plan and a few lines about the land are enough to start.
We do the homework
We check planning history, policy, flood maps and access at no cost to you.
We explain the options
You get a written proposal covering price, structure and timing.
Agree and proceed
Once you are happy, solicitors are instructed and the deal moves forward.
Frequently asked in Cumbria
What if planning is refused?
That depends on the deal. Under a conditional contract we can usually decide whether to appeal, re-apply or walk away; if we walk away you keep your land.
Do you buy land with no planning outright?
Sometimes. If we are confident about the planning route we can buy outright, which gives you certainty sooner but reflects the risk we take on.
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.
Do I need to pay anything to have land in Penrith assessed?
No. Our appraisal is free and there is no obligation to sell to us.
