How to find out if land near you will be built on

The Local Plan is the council's rulebook for where development goes, and planning decisions must follow it unless other considerations say otherwise ¹. Its policies map shows the boundary of every site allocated for housing and every protection such as Green Belt ¹. Look on the council's planning policy pages, and check whether a new plan is being written: its draft allocations show where the council is thinking of putting homes next. Our guide to Local Plan allocations explains how much a draft counts.

When a council starts a new plan, it invites people to put land forward. Anyone can propose land, even land they don't own ². The council then assesses each site for whether it is suitable, available and achievable, in a land availability assessment (often called a SHLAA or HELAA), which must be published ³.

A field that has been put forward has a landowner or promoter who wants it built on, but being listed doesn't mean it will be allocated ³. See our guide to the Call for Sites.

Every council keeps a register of planning applications with their plans, decisions and conditions, and must add new ones within 14 days ⁴. The law allows rather than requires councils to put it online, but almost all do ⁴. Search by street or postcode, and look for applications on the field itself and nearby.

Look out for screening and scoping requests under the environmental impact assessment rules. Developers of large schemes ask for these before applying, and the council must make them public ⁶. A scoping request for hundreds of homes on a field is a strong sign an application is coming.

• Brownfield land register: every council publishes one, listing previously developed sites it thinks suitable for housing, and reviews it at least yearly ⁷. Farmland and gardens are not brownfield ⁸.
• Neighbourhood plan: if your parish or town council has one, it is part of the development plan ¹ and may allocate sites or protect green spaces.
• Flood map for planning: the Environment Agency's map shows flood zones from rivers and the sea, with surface water risk shown separately. It shows risk to an area of land, not whether a particular property will flood ⁹.

HM Land Registry shows who owns registered land. You can search by address or on a map; a copy of the title register costs £7 online, and the title plan £7 ¹⁰. Some land, especially farmland that hasn't changed hands for decades, isn't registered and won't appear ¹⁰.

The register can also show notices protecting someone else's interest in the land, such as an option to buy it ¹¹. An option in favour of a housebuilder or land promoter is a strong sign the land is being lined up for development. From 6 April 2027, holders of such options over land must report them to HM Land Registry ¹².

The standard local authority search (CON29) answers questions about the property you're buying, not its neighbours. As one council puts it, searches do not include surrounding areas or neighbouring properties ⁵. Some councils offer an optional extra enquiry about adjoining land; ask your conveyancer.