To the North of Stisted Parish is an area of land locally referred to as Gladwish Land. This is land that is available to purchase through a company called Gladwish Land Sales. This land has an Article 4 Directive registered against it, as issued by the Secretary of State. This withdraws the usual permitted development rights which prevents the land being used for anything but agricultural use. You can read the Article 4 Directive letter in full by clicking here.
As of writing this page, there is nothing to warn prospective buyers of the Gladwish Land plots, either on the websites that they own or any of the documents that we have seen, that there are restrictions on the land which limit what it can be used for. If any prospective buyers are reading this, aside from the Article 4 Directive they might also want to consider that local arable land usually sells for £10,000 to £12,000 per acre for the first acre, with the price dropping to as little as £8,000 per acre if you are purchasing mulitple acres.
On other websites where the land is advertised for sale, e.g. Perfect Plot, each of the plots is described as having a right of way. This is incorrect. There is single public byway running to the south of the land but this is separated from the land itself by protected hedgerow.
The Gladwish Land in Stisted has been in the news on numerous occaisions, most recently in August 2020 when illegal fly tipping at the site lead to coverage on national television and radio. There is a BBC news article relating to the incident available here.
If you are considering the purchase of a Gladwish Land plot in Stisted, please engage an independent solicitor to advise you on the purchase and to ensure that you fully understand the current restrictions that will be applied to your plot(s).
There follow further historical news articles regarding the Gladwish Land and the sale of greenbelt for further reference.
Villagers in uproar at fields sale – East Anglian Daily Times
Stisted: Strict action on new land sales – Essex County Standard
The Plot Thickens – The Telegraph