MikeR

Thanks for all your suggestions I'll check out @lizzie suggested company in the morning - mining has never happened in this part of Bristol but thanks to @Ian for the warning

Good advice @lizzie - would any solicitor be able to do the search or does it need to be a specialist land solicitor?

Thanks @lizzie - it's more to do with what's under the land that I'll need to know about rather than what's going to be available - very briefly, my house is going to be demolished and replaced by nine self build dwellings. The current house has all services/utlilities connected already so I'm assuming that this side of things won't be a problem and it's more to do with what's lurking under the ground that I need to be aware of ...............

Does anyone know of an easy way to find out what utilities there are under my plot of land or near to it? Is it simply a matter of contacting the gas, electricity, water etc people myself or is there any online resources that I can use to make the job easier? Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

Hi Ferdinand - many thanks for your comments about fewer threads - I'll certainly bear that in mind from now on. You're quite right about my chances of success in submitting an application especially as I'm in the green belt and outside of the settlement boundary! In the majority of cases it would have been dead in the water. However, with the recent Govt initiatives relating to self-building, I thought that I might have a chance so long as I emphasised that this project was being aimed at self-builders and no way would my land ever be offered to a mainstream developer. However even then I was relying on it being called in by one of the committee members because it was still destined for refusal. Thankfully one of them, who it seems was very supportive of the principle of self-guiding, did call it in and on the day he along with a couple of others on the committee joined forces and managed to persuade the majority of the others to approve. During the site visit I did manage to find out that my council had never approved a group self-build scheme before and that some of the committee members felt that if my application was approved that they would be going into the unknown so at the full committee meeting two weeks later I offered my site as a "pilot study" and promised to keep them informed at all stages of the project so that they could learn for the future. This offer did strike a chord with some of the members and perhaps it did help my case in some small way. My advice to anybody else with a "difficult site" would be to engage with the committee members as early as possible as you may eventually need them as an ally at a later date. I'll take a look at the website in Lakes to see if I can glean anything. Mike

Yes, you're quite right - but it's my understanding that you're allowed to address the committee as a group but once you've had your say then you have to keep quiet and say no more. This is exactly what I did when my application went to committee. In addition you're also allowed to "follow" the committee back to the place place where they have their post site visit meeting and are allowed to address them once again. (This is little known and not widely advertised by your council but once again it's an opportunity to have your say) Badger - I'd suggest you talk to the committee's admin person and ask him exactly what opportunities you're going to have to speak.

If it's going to committee then there should also be a site visit planned a week or two before the actual committee meeting - this too will also give you an opportunity to speak but objectors could also be there as well and they too could speak so be aware of this. The site visit is a great opportunity to physically point out certain aspects of your application rather than the committee members relying on a map.

The post code of my site is BS32 4JH - it's about 7 miles north west from the centre of Bristol and about a mile from where the M4 and M5 cross each other - it never occurred to me that there could be some interested parties on this forum so thanks Nickfromwales!

Normally, both objectors and supporters (you?) will a have a certain number of mins (often as low as 5mins but check with your council) to state their case then the planning officer will say their piece (no restriction on how many mins!) and then the committee will discuss in depth. Any questions that they have will be directed to the planning officer and you will not have any further chance to speak I'm afraid. They will then take a vote. My advice is to speak yourself (rather than your agent) and to write down your speech and try to counter any of the objections that have been raised so far - practice reading it over and over again and time yourself to ensure that it doesn't over run because it has been known for them to cut you short if you take too long. If you do intend to speak register your intent with the committee's admin officer in advance of the day.

Ah - that now makes sense - so every architect would be a RIBA member, but some architects would be a member of both. Thanks MikeSharp01

I've just found this forum online and what a good resource it's going to be for me as I embark on my self-build journey. Briefly, I'm looking to set up a group self-build scheme on my land in Bristol (9 houses with outline permission) - I've had some custom build companies sniffing around already but I'd rather offer it to 8 other individuals and let them make equity/profit from building their house rather than a developer. My current plan is to recruit 8 members (8 + me) and form the group into a self-build co-operative so that they are a legal entity enabling to borrow sufficient funds to buy the land, put in the road/infrastructure and obtain mortgages (if needed) to fund their self-build. Has any other members of the forum ever had experience of doing this sort of thing? Your thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm looking to put together a group self-build and I'm going to need an architect at some point - is there any difference between one who's a member of RIBA or one who's a member of ASBA or are they going to be pretty much the same? Thanks