Purchasing or licensing of amenity land including requests in relation to restrictive covenants

The Council owns and manages a wide range of land across the Borough, much of which is protected through various environmental designations. These include Local Nature Reserves, Green Guarantee sites, and numerous smaller green spaces within residential areas, all of which contribute to the Borough’s natural heritage, biodiversity, and community wellbeing. 

The Council may consider requests  to purchase small parcels of Council-owned amenity land from adjacent property owners. If you are looking to buy land owned by Telford & Wrekin Council or to vary/remove an existing covenant in relation to your property then you will need to make an application to the Council and an assessment will be made regarding its potential disposal or variation/removal of the covenant. Although the Council is under no obligation to sell any amenity land or to vary or remove a covenant, this guidance note outlines the Councils adopted procedure for dealing with requests from prospective purchasers and the fees and costs that an applicant may incur.

Guidance notes

Please Note: Applications to purchase amenity land can take up to 4 months to process.

Amenity land is best described as small areas of land, often grassed and unfenced, adjoining houses. The nature of such land varies considerably and we consider each application on its own merits. As a general rule the Council will only sell amenity land where the applicant owns the adjoining property.

Once we receive your application, we will email you a location plan for the area concerned. Please mark on the plan the land you wish to purchase and return it to us. If your request relates to the removal or variation of a restrictive covenant, please provide full details of the amendment you are seeking.

Once received, we will complete a brief preliminary assessment of the proposed land. We will then contact you to let you know whether the matter can progress to the next stage. (In some cases the land may not be owned by the Council or it may be because it is not Council policy to dispose of particular areas of land such as Green Guarantee or estate parking spaces). 

If the application is able to proceed to a more detailed assessment we will contact you to make a payment of £50 + VAT to continue. This fee is non-refundable (no exemptions) and covers the Council's administration costs in dealing with the application. However, if the matter is agreed, the fee will be deducted from the overall costs on completion of the sale.

Once payment has been received, we will review our property records and consult with relevant internal departments, including Planning. If no objections are raised, we will appoint a surveyor to inspect the land. Following the inspection, we will write to you with our initial findings and, where appropriate, provide details of the costs involved in purchasing or licensing the land, or in removing or varying a restrictive covenant.

Please note that, as a public authority, the Council is legally required to obtain the best consideration reasonably achievable when disposing of property or land.

If, following our investigations, we are unable to progress your request, we will notify you in writing, explaining the reasons why the application cannot proceed.

If you wish to proceed, please confirm this in writing and, where required, submit an application for Planning Permission.

Once Planning Permission has been granted and the relevant documentation has been provided to the Council, we will instruct our Legal Services team to progress the transaction.

Please note that legal completion cannot take place until any necessary Planning Permission, including consent for a change of use where applicable, has been obtained.

Download a summary of the application process (.pdf Size: 95Kb)

Complete our online application form for purchasing or licensing of amenity land and removing restrictive covenant

Visit the Civica payment system to pay for small land sales