Selling Land in Berkshire

• 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 Berkshire 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.

London's Green Belt in the East of the County

East Berkshire sits within London's Green Belt. It keeps Maidenhead, Windsor, Slough and the villages between them apart, and separates Bracknell from Ascot. Since December 2024, land that does not strongly contribute to the Green Belt's purposes can be treated as grey belt, and new homes on it can be approved if they meet the Golden Rules on affordable housing, infrastructure and green space. The unmet need route in policy S5 is closed in the Green Belt. Grey belt stays open where need is shown, which in Berkshire today usually means a supply under five years or a delivery result under 75%. Our grey belt guide explains the test.

Thames Basin Heaths

The heaths around Crowthorne, Sandhurst and Bracknell are protected for ground-nesting birds. New homes within 400 metres of the protected area are normally refused. Between 400 metres and 5 kilometres, housing needs mitigation, in the form of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) and a payment towards managing visitors. For a landowner, this has two sides. It adds cost to a scheme, but land that could itself become SANG can make homes possible on the rest of a larger holding.

The North Wessex Downs

The downland north of the Kennet and the hills south of Newbury towards Hampshire are within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. National policy gives great weight to conserving its landscape and scenic beauty, and major development inside it is only allowed in exceptional circumstances. Land on the edge of Newbury and Thatcham that sits outside the boundary is usually more promising.

River Quality and Nutrients

West Berkshire council requires new homes in the River Lambourn and River Test catchments to be nutrient neutral, because both rivers are protected and in poor condition from excess phosphates. That means showing how a scheme's waste water will be dealt with and, where needed, buying mitigation. It adds cost and time to a scheme.

The Thames, the Jubilee River and the Kennet

The Thames runs the length of the county's northern and eastern edge. Datchet, Wraysbury, Old Windsor and parts of Maidenhead have flooded badly in the past, and the Jubilee River was built to take flood water around Maidenhead and Windsor. The Kennet, Loddon, Pang and Blackwater all have wide floodplains in places. Land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 faces the sequential test, though the developable part of a field can often be kept to Flood Zone 1. More detail is in our flood risk guide.

Other Constraints

Windsor Castle, Windsor Great Park and the historic cores of Eton, Cookham and Hungerford mean heritage settings come up often in east and west Berkshire. Land around the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield falls within emergency planning zones where new housing is tightly controlled.

None of these rules out selling land in Berkshire on its own. Each shapes what a site can carry, and our free review tells you which of them apply to your land before anything is agreed.

The route depends on which side of a council boundary your land is. In Slough and Windsor and Maidenhead, the unmet need position helps well-located land outside the Green Belt, and grey belt policy is the main test inside it. Elsewhere, only West Berkshire shows five years of land, so it is the one council where the plan is plainly the main route. In practice we look at:

1. An application under policy S5. Outside the Green Belt, land that sits well against a town or village can be put forward. Below 75% unmet need is treated as evidenced; a supply shortfall is evidence to weigh. Inside settlements, policy S4 leans towards approval.
2. Grey belt in east Berkshire. Paddocks, yards and fields that do little to keep towns apart can qualify where need is shown, subject to the Golden Rules.
3. Local plan allocation. Wokingham's Local Plan Update and Reading's partial update are at examination, and every council will prepare new plans under the new system. The stages are explained in our guide to local plan making.
4. Previously developed land. Old yards, depots and commercial sites, which national policy supports inside and outside settlements, including in the Green Belt.
5. 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.
6. Land that can provide SANG. In the Thames Basin Heaths zone, open land that can become public green space can support a nearby housing scheme or form part of one.

In east Berkshire, most promising land will be judged as grey belt, and that shapes what a scheme has to provide. Under the Golden Rules in policy GB8, where the local plan sets no specific figure for Green Belt land, a major scheme must provide affordable housing 15 percentage points above the council's usual requirement, up to 50%, along with new public green space and any infrastructure the area needs. We design for that from the start, so the scheme we put forward is one the council can support.