Land zoned industrial: How does the rezoning process work?

[JpL]

Hello to everone here.
As you can see this is my first post so i am not to sure if it is the right place to put this.
I need to ask advice on behalf of my parents and what better place than on the www

My parents purchased 18 acres of land 14 years ago in a town in the midlands. They worked very hard all their lives and took a huge risk investing the money they had earned. Half the land was zoned aggricultural and the other half residential. They had always planned on selling the land and having the money as a retirement fund.

Recently they were approached by a major local developer and asked if they would like to sell the land for an obscene ammount of money. They were amazed by the offer and realised they could live very well for the rest of their lives. Two weeks later the builder came to them and said the land was to be rezoned industrial as one day it could be used to extend a large industrial estate which runs behind our own land. The industrial estate already comprimises a large area of land, a lot of which is currently unused.

The land has not been rezoned yet but the developer now says he cannot do anything with the land and the offer has been rejected.

I really have no clue and because my parents are getting old now they dont understand the situation either.

Is it the case that the county council can just rezone this land?
If they do will the land suddenly take a huge plunge in value?
Is there anything they can do?
Any help or links to sites regarding the zoning process would be greatly apprecaited.
Thanks in advance .

 

[MOB]

Re: Land zoned industrial

1. The council can re-zone the land; If they do re-zone, there is no right to compensation for loss of value. You need to ascertain what the timerframe is; Are they due to adopt a new plan this year? next year?

2. If there is in reality no need for further industrial land, it seems unlikely that they would choose to re-zone industrial. At a minimum, a well prepared submission from a planning consultant should help nudge them away from this course of action. The quality of planning consultants is very variable, and your parents would not be regarded as premium clients (property developers would be) so this is a little problematic.

3. If part of the land is currently zoned residential, then there is nothing to stop your parents applying for a planning permission consistent with this zoning. It would not be appropriate for the planners to refuse permission on the grounds that the zoning might be changed in the next development plan. This depends on the timeframe for the new development plan. Getting residential permission on part of the land makes it less likely that the planners will re-zone the remainder industrial;

 

[woods]

Re: Land zoned industrial

It would be great if they could move fast and get an application in for housing while the zoning is valid but I fear that the builder would also have known of this possibility and has seemed to rule it out so maybe the timeline is too tight.
Have you considered that the builder may have been in over his head and just wanted an excuse to get out of the deal and you have nothing to worry about. I have seen it to happen.
You need more info and you need it fast. Time is your greatest enemy here so start on this tomorrow.

 

[ajapale]

Ive moved this interesting question relating to Land Rezoning from Location Location Location to Property Investment.

aj