2022 - Another Successful Year For Land Promoter Catesby Estates

As one of the leading land promotion businesses in the UK Catesby Estates takes a look back over 2022 and the challenges in the land sector.

It has been a turbulent and challenging 12 months for the nation with political upheaval, the cost of living crisis and the sad death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Notwithstanding the fact that the long-term health of the economy relies on new housing and development, we can continue to expect there to be more uncertainty within the planning system, as an already complex and under resourced system struggles under the weight of expectation.

Against a background of a housing crisis entrenched in a political tennis match, economic uncertainty, increasing interest rates and energy prices hitting unprecedented levels for homeowners, the land promotion sector has remained buoyant.

Second best year for leading land promoter

Demand for land has remained high, resulting in a strong year once again for Catesby, with our second best year since the business was established over 20 years ago delivering a gross profit of £10.6m and a pre-tax profit of £7.3m.

Catesby disposed of 3 sites to both SME and major housebuilders, totalling 75 gross acres, with outline planning consent obtained for 710 new homes, with a total gross land value of £52.8m.

The biggest sale of the year was at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire to Bellway Homes.

The 42 acre site had outline planning consent for 490 new homes, 40% affordable housing, and a significant package of infrastructure contributions and highway works totalling over £6.7 million.

It was a challenging 10 year journey with Catesby acquiring the site on a freehold basis in 2012.  Despite securing an allocation within the Bromsgrove District Plan, a subsequent planning application was refused and then dismissed by an Inspector. A further application was submitted and refused,  but was followed by a successful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate who also granted a full award of costs to Catesby .  This is a prime example of Catesby’s in-house skill, tenacity and commitment to delivering a positive outcome. 

New land site acquisitions to land promotion portfolio

A successful year once again places emphasis on the land team to replenish Catesby’s land promotion portfolio, to ensure a strong pipeline of unconsented sites to promote moving forward.  Catesby continues to work closely with agents and landowners, and has secured a further 8 new land sites, totalling 964 gross acres and 4,699 homes.

Our largest new site this year was a 497 acre site located within the Borough of Swale known as Foxchurch.  This is a joint venture with Appin Land and Development.  The site has capacity for up to 2,500 new homes alongside a wide range of additional community facilities. An outline planning application has been submitted to Swale Borough Council.

Local Plans and planning challenges

Water and nutrient neutrality restrictions remain challenging for the sector as a whole.  Water neutrality has caused delays to two sites being brought forward in Horsham District; one with outline planning permission for up to 100 new homes, and a draft allocation for up to 170 new homes currently awaiting a committee date.  Catesby have been working at a local level to develop interim potential solutions, whilst also raising this issue at a political level via our relationship and membership with the Land Promoters & Developers Federation (LPDF).

Looking forward, the experience within the Catesby senior management team will help ensure the business remains resilient to future external pressures.  Our team, financial backing from Urban&Civic and Wellcome, along with our careful approach to site selection means we can respond to any changes and quickly adapt our business approach where necessary.

Future business risk will be minimised by continually evolving the planning and community engagement strategies to promote sites through the Local Plan process, seeking allocations and gaining consents at a local level where possible.

Catesby head office relocation

The long-awaited relocation of the Catesby head office to Houlton, Rugby which was delayed due to the pandemic has provided increased space and facilities to help support the next phase of business growth.  The evolution of the business includes the expansion of our southern regional team, which has already seen growth this year with the appointment of Julian Wilkinson to the team as Area Land Director.

The 2022/2023 year ahead looks to be challenging for both the wider development and housebuilding sectors, and what impact this will have on land requirements is yet to be seen. 

With a strong future sales pipeline coming forward, Catesby remains cautiously optimistic about the future.

Find out more about the Catesby team here or read the flip version on our last Catesby Times 2022 Round Up.