The PPS14 saga for building sites continued in the past week with the successful judicial review, by Omagh District Council, of how PPS14 was introduced. What it means for building sites is that PPS14 can no longer be applied allowing fresh planning applications for residential building sites in the countryside to be made. Since introduction of PPS14 we all believed that there would be no more building sites made available other than those sites that already existed or those successful applications made before its introduction. The decision of the judicial review has taken everybody by surprise because of its immediate impact on planning almost as surprising as the swift introduction of PPS14 last year.

In terms of the property market a sense of panic had set in, over the past 12 months, among individuals wishing to build and live in the countryside. It meant that the price of building sites doubled in certain areas. Since the Autumn of last year there have been a lot of building sites being offered for sale on the market. The reason for this was that owners of building sites had to use them or lose them because under PPS14 it was not possible to renew the planning approval on any building site. Therefore a site owner either had to build on the site or sell it.

It would now appear that there is at least a temporary reprieve. What does it mean for site values? Everybody is still very unsure about what is going to happen regarding the planning policy for residential building sites in the countryside. The powers that be may appeal or attempt to introduce a new policy relatively quickly in line with last week's court decision. The immediate affect on building site values is difficult to gauge. The automatic reaction from some quarters is that site values will reduce. My opinion is that it may involve a period of inactivity as everyone takes a step back to wait and see what will happen to planning policy. There will obviously be a rush of new planning applications being submitted but it remains to be seen how such applications will be dealt with.

Before PPS14 was introduced there was a distinct lack of building sites available on the open market. When it was introduced everyone was surprised by the number of building sites made available for sale. It was obvious that there were quite a number of building sites in the countryside, the problem being that such building sites were retained by their owners for 3 main reasons:

1. In case a member of their family wanted to build on it at some stage in the future;

2. For taxation purposes. Those with more than 1 building site were inclined to sell a site in separate tax years to avoid paying high rates of tax;

3. Sites were being held for 'rainy days'.

What facilitated individuals to hold onto sites was the ability to renew planning on a building site which was not possible under PPS14. If a similar policy to PPS14 is not introduced then the above 3 factors will raise their head again and fewer sites will actually be available for sale on the open market, but if it is reintroduced in some format then we could be back to the panic situation which was evident over the past 12 months.

Over the next few months we may see a levelling out of site values influenced by the potential for the provision of more sites but also by the fear that PPS14 may be reintroduced in some form or another. Guidance will be required until a final decision is made.