Selling Land in Bedfordshire

• It sits next to, or is well related to, an existing town or village.
• A safe access onto a public road is possible, even if it needs work.
• Most of the land is outside the highest flood risk zone.
• It is not covered by a strong designation such as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
• It is about 2 acres or more, or part of a larger holding.
• Everyone who owns it is willing to consider one clear, agreed price.

If your land does not tick every box, ask anyway. Many of the sites we take on have a problem to solve, whether that is access, drainage, a tenancy or an awkward boundary, and solving those problems is our job.

1. A first conversation. You call us or send the form on this page. We need only your postcode, your name and a phone number or email.
2. A free desktop review. Within a few days we look at your land, the planning position in Bedfordshire and the routes open to it, and tell you plainly whether it suits us. The review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
3. Heads of terms and the option agreement. If it suits, we agree a price with you in writing, then the option agreement itself. We contribute to your solicitor's and land agent's fees, so it costs you nothing to get it done properly.
4. The planning work, at our cost. We pay for the surveys, the design, the planning application and any appeal. You carry on farming, grazing or letting the land as you do now.
5. Completion. If planning permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

How selling land for development works, step by step gives the detail of each stage and how long it usually takes.

The Green Belt in the South

The Green Belt around Luton, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard is the northern edge of the Metropolitan Green Belt. It keeps those towns apart from each other and from the villages around them. Policy S5 does not apply in the Green Belt, but land that does not strongly contribute to its purposes can be grey belt, where homes are allowed if need is shown, which usually means a delivery result under 75% or less than five years of land. Central Bedfordshire's supply meets that test today, so some edge of town sites in the south may qualify, with the Golden Rules applying to larger schemes. Our grey belt guide explains the test.

The Chilterns

The Chilterns National Landscape reaches into the south of the county around Dunstable Downs, Whipsnade and the Barton Hills. Major development inside it is only allowed in exceptional circumstances, and land in its setting is judged on its effect on views from the escarpment.

The Great Ouse and the Ivel, Flit and Ouzel

The Great Ouse runs through Bedford, and the Ivel, Flit and Ouzel drain much of Central Bedfordshire, all with flood risk, especially in the flat Ouse valley. Land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 faces the sequential test, although the homes can often be placed on the drier part of a site.

The Marston Vale

The Marston Vale, between Bedford and the M1, was shaped by a century of brickmaking and has old clay pits, landfill and restored land. It is also the Forest of Marston Vale, a community forest with a long term tree planting programme. Ground conditions and restoration history matter on sites here.

Woburn, Wrest Park and Village Conservation Areas

Central Bedfordshire has some important historic estates, including Woburn Abbey and its deer park, Wrest Park at Silsoe and the parkland at Ampthill. Many villages have conservation areas and listed churches and farmhouses. Their setting usually shapes the layout and scale of a scheme rather than ruling it out.

Infrastructure

The M1, A1, A6, A5 and A421 carry most traffic, and the Midland Main Line, East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line all cross the county. East West Rail is planned to link Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge. Its 2026 consultation proposed new stations on the Marston Vale line at Ridgmont, Lidlington and Stewartby, and major changes at Bedford station.

For landowners near Ridgmont, Lidlington or Stewartby, the proposed stations can matter as much as any designation, and we take them into account in every review of land close to the line.

Bedford and Central Bedfordshire pass the Housing Delivery Test but cannot show five years of housing land, a different test. That opens an application now for well placed land, and the new plans will need a lot more. The main routes are:

1. A planning application under policy S5. Outside the Green Belt, land adjoining a town or village where roads, schools and drainage can cope. The shortfall is evidence of need to be weighed, not an automatic finding, so access and services still decide the case.
2. Local plan allocation. Put land forward when Bedford or Central Bedfordshire calls for sites, and support it through each stage. How each stage works is set out in our local plans guide.
3. Grey belt, in the south. Around Dunstable, Houghton Regis, Leighton Buzzard and the villages near Luton, some Green Belt land may qualify as grey belt.
4. Sites near stations. National policy now supports higher density homes within walking distance of well connected stations. Whether it applies depends on the station and its service.
5. Brownfield land in Luton. Luton's low score gives previously developed sites inside the town a strong case.

Bedfordshire rewards landowners who get their land into the plan early. Much of the county is farmland of the kind that strategic growth needs, and larger holdings are of particular interest to us.