Plotfinder Challenge: Cornwall

Derek and Sue Moore enrol the aid of expert David Snell and the plotfinder.net team to help them find a plot in Cornwall

Our Plothunters

I first met Derek and Sue Moore in the summer of 2002 when, on their return from a teaching secondment in Botswana, they decided that they wanted to live near their family in Cornwall. We did a Plotfinder Challenge together and they found a derelict barn, which they duly bought and converted into their present home.

Now they want to do it again, only this time they want to start afresh with a plot of land. I first viewed the plot they’re most interested in during the summer. However, we revisited the plot together a couple of months later — and this time, it was on sale for £35,000 less.

The plot we looked at in detail
Plot adjoining Rosevallon, Budock Water (main image) - £125,000

Budock Water is a popular village just outside Falmouth. It has good bus connections, a general store, a clothes shop, a pub and post office — though the post office will, unfortunately, be closing as a result of the latest measure of modernisation/privatisation.

When I first saw this plot in the summer, the property market was buoyant and the asking price was £160,000. I thought then that this was a lovely plot in a quiet, secluded spot. At the time I assumed that planning could be gained for a detached house similar to the one being built just up the lane, and that it would therefore share a similar value. I was wrong — planning (discussed in more detail later) is only granted for a single storey dwelling. That alters the figures quite dramatically, which is perhaps why the price has come tumbling down.

However, one of the biggest problems with this plot is the narrowness of the entrance road, which is barely three metres. This will mean that most materials will have to be off-loaded into dumpers and carted up to the site.

The Other Plots

Kugger, Ruan Minor, Helston, Cornwall - £169,950 (above left) A nice village close to a popular sandy cove. Land, plus £160,000 for the build, equates to £380,000 — but that’s £30,000 more than the resale value.

Grannys Lane, Perranporth, Cornwall — £200,000 (above right) This plot is one of a pair, and the house on the other is for sale at £335,000. The footings are in and I suspect the price owes more to the needs of the vendor than reality.

The Planning Story

• Planning permission already granted
• A passing place needs to be constructed on the narrow access road

The site was granted planning permission for a single storey dwelling by Kerrier District Council in June 2007. Although this was well after the new rules for planning came into force, the planning consent is fairly vague and all that’s really shown on the plans is a basic L-shaped ‘blob’, indicating a bungalow fronting the lane.

A visit to see the planners elicited that they would not be averse to the slight repositioning of the bungalow, so that it is set at an angle across the plot towards the rear or northerly corner. The subject of dormer windows to the roof was mentioned and again the answer was that this was ‘feasible’, although there was a caveat that this opinion was not binding with the local authority. This is well understood by Derek and Sue; they were given opinions from planning officers regarding their barn conversion, but when push came to shove, those opinions were reversed. They could opt for just rooflights, but as Derek is 6’5” tall this would present problems.

Although the lane is private it is quite busy and there is a requirement for a passing place to be formed on the lane frontage — taking two metres off the depth of the plot. A Cornish hedge – a stone-edged bank, filled with soil within, with hedging planted on top – will also need to be constructed along the plot frontage.

Ground Conditions

• 'Shallot' soil conditions

The house up the hill has also sold off a plot and we were able to quiz the builders about the ground conditions. In the main they found good ground with what is locally termed ‘shallot’ – a mixture of stone, shale and subsoil – at a depth of around one metre. They have therefore used normal strip foundations with 225mm of concrete at the bottom of trenches one metre deep. One ‘problem’ they did, however, encounter when digging was huge stones — some nearly two metres long. But these have proved very useful for the construction of their Cornish hedges.

The Site's Characteristics

• Sloping site
• Electricity lines cross above the plot

The narrow access lane slopes up from the main village street by 15º before continuing along the road frontage of the plot. At present, an established Cornish hedge lines the frontage, but this hedge will have to be removed to create the passing point.

The top boundary is also Cornish hedge with cob (hazelnut) trees which provide good screening. The lower boundary to the vendor’s bungalow is, however, post and wire and therefore fairly open, although the vendor has planted eucalyptus trees for screening — they will have to be watched if they’re not to grow into monsters that deprive this plot of the southerly sun. The rear hedge is again cob and there is a housing estate beyond. Fortunately, the estate is set down meaning the new build will not be overlooked.

The site slopes from front to back by up to two metres, and from one side to another by one metre. Transporting topsoil away would be a problem with the narrow lane, so as much spoil as possible should be retained to level up the plot.

Four electricity lines cross the plot and these will have to be bundled together at the highest level to allow one metre of clearance above the roof.

What to build

• Bungalow with detached garage
• Slate roof

The planning permission shows an Lshaped bungalow. Quite flatteringly, Derek and Sue are very taken with my self-built bungalow, ‘Imagine’ (ABOVE), designed by Beverley Pemberton of Design & Materials (0845 404 0400). They‘re thinking of a version of this set at an angle with a detached garage in the south-easterly corner — naturally I think this is ideal.

The bungalow would be rendered with a local stone plinth and a slate roof, and measure around 130m2 plus loft space that could be used as storage or an office.

Potential Values

• End Value: £340,000
• Build Cost: £160,000
• Land Cost: £125,000

Derek and Sue have already had experience building in this area. They’ll be paying cash for most things, and as they’ve already demonstrated on their barn conversion, this works for them. They estimate build costs of around £160,000, which, added to land costs, means a total cost of £285,000. So what’s the value of the proposed bungalow? Well at the last count it was £340,000. But values are dropping like stones. Good job this is their ‘last’ home and they can wait for values to return.

David's Recommendation

This was a good challenge for me because it provided an opportunity to catch up with Derek and Sue again and to see what they’d achieved from our last exercise together. It was also a chance to ‘use up’ a plot that I’d been rather taken with when I saw it several months earlier. Derek and Sue’s offer of £125,000 has been accepted and at that price and the labour rates I know they can achieve, they can ‘proof’ themselves against the cold wind that’s blowing around property at the moment — at least until values return again in 2010.