How Much is My Land Worth in Bolsover?

We confirm the planning authority, parish, adopted settlement category, development envelope, allocation, Important Open Break, Green Belt, countryside policy, employment designation and any made neighbourhood plan. Postal addresses can be misleading near Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire, Ashfield and Bassetlaw, so the administrative boundary is checked before a policy conclusion is reached.

We then distinguish an adopted allocation from a Land Availability Assessment entry, Call for Sites submission, brownfield-register record, outline permission, reserved-matters approval, expired consent or unassessed parcel. Those labels represent different degrees of certainty and should not be converted into the same land value. See how land-availability assessments work.

The 2026 annual position statement identifies 4.82 years of deliverable housing supply and a 71-dwelling shortfall. We check the current calculation, any subsequent appeal evidence and the national policy route applicable on the assessment date. A shortfall can strengthen the benefit of deliverable housing, but it does not neutralise Green Belt, countryside, settlement, heritage, access or environmental policies.

We compare the site with Bolsover North, Clowne Garden Village, the former Whitwell Colliery, committed schemes around the four principal towns and allocations in the large villages. The amount of land already controlled by housebuilders, the remaining infrastructure, likely annual build rates and delayed delivery affect both planning need and purchaser appetite. A landowner should understand whether the site fills a genuine gap or competes with a substantial pipeline.

Much of the district has a coal-mining or industrial legacy. We review mine entries, recorded shafts, shallow workings, opencast areas, spoil, made ground, ground gas, landfill, industrial processes and remediation history. A parcel that looks level and vacant may require intrusive investigation, stabilisation, gas protection, capping, groundwater treatment or abnormal foundations before it can support buildings.

The investigation scope depends on the proposed use and the site history. Housing, schools and open space have different sensitivity from storage or industrial development. We therefore build proportionate risk allowances into the residual appraisal rather than treating every former colliery or brownfield site as either worthless or automatically more valuable than greenfield land. See our guide to contaminated development land.

We test the strategic and local network rather than relying on straight-line proximity. The relevant evidence may include M1 Junctions 28–30, the A38, A617, A619, A632 and A616, village streets, bridge capacity, HGV routes, pedestrian connections, the Robin Hood Line and bus services. A suitable access requires legal rights as well as acceptable geometry, visibility, gradients, drainage and safety.

Strategic sites can require roundabout improvements, new link roads, active-travel routes, public-transport contributions and land outside the applicant’s ownership. We identify ransom strips, unadopted roads, highway verges, rail interfaces and off-site works before estimating value. The costs and timing of one junction improvement can be more significant than a modest difference in the assumed selling price per home or square foot.

Only about six per cent of Bolsover District is designated Green Belt, principally affecting land around Barlborough. We therefore verify the designation rather than applying Green Belt or grey-belt language to the whole district. A parcel near Bolsover, Shirebrook, Clowne, South Normanton or another village may instead be within an Important Open Break, outside a development envelope in ordinary countryside or subject to a separate landscape or open-space policy.

Important Open Breaks help maintain gaps, openness and the identity of adjoining settlements, but they are not the same designation as Green Belt. The development case must address the purpose of the mapped land, views, topography, settlement form and cumulative coalescence. Where Green Belt genuinely applies, the final national tests and local review evidence are considered separately. See our guide to development in the Green Belt.

Bolsover District contains the headwaters of the River Poulter and tributary headwaters of the Meden, Doe Lea, Erewash and Amber, together with smaller watercourses, culverts, former industrial drainage and surface-water flow routes. We assess fluvial, surface-water and groundwater risk, climate-change allowances, safe access, historic flooding and the effect of remediation or mine-water conditions.

A developable layout must reserve space for watercourse buffers, sustainable drainage, attenuation, exceedance routes and long-term maintenance. Foul sewer and wastewater-treatment capacity are considered separately from river flooding, and a lawful outfall may require third-party land or reinforcement. These deductions can materially reduce net developable acreage. See flood-risk and drainage guidance.

We consider the settings and views associated with Bolsover Castle, Creswell Crags, Hardwick Hall and Old Hall, conservation areas, listed buildings, archaeology, historic villages, Pleasley Vale and the Magnesian Limestone landscape. Heritage effects can change the access position, density, height, developable boundary and planting strategy even where no designated asset lies within the ownership.

The assessment also maps ancient woodland, hedgerows, mature trees, ponds, limestone grassland, local wildlife sites, protected species and biodiversity-net-gain requirements. Surveys must be commissioned at the correct season and used to shape the concept layout. Habitat buffers, woodland creation and long-term management can improve a planning case while reducing saleable land. See our guide to heritage and development land.

The valuation deducts roads, junctions, schools, drainage, habitat land, public open space, landscape buffers, utilities, easements, affordable housing, Section 106 obligations, professional fees, finance, abnormal ground costs and the purchaser’s required return. On a strategic or multi-owner site, equalisation, collaboration, access rights and the timing of shared infrastructure can be as important as the gross acreage.

We then compare the residual result with the land’s existing agricultural, commercial, industrial, equestrian, amenity or investment value and with appropriate local evidence. This is why a serviced Bolsover North parcel, a former colliery, a field near Barlborough, a town-centre redevelopment site and motorway employment land should not be assigned one generic Bolsover price per acre. See how planning obligations affect development land value.