Massive Northumberland estate sells for £19m, seven years after garden village row
A prime Northumberland estate which was the focal part of a major planning row has been sold in a £19.1m deal.
The Dissington Estate, which lies between Ponteland and Stamfordham, was put on the market for a second time a year ago, five years after it was first placed on the market. Now the 2,552-acre agricultural estate has been sold for the multimillion-pound sum to the Crown Estate by Watling Real Estate, which was appointed joint LPA receivers over the estate in July 2023. The estate includes five tenanted farms with a number of residential and agricultural buildings.
Andrew Foster, joint managing director at Watling Real Estate, said: “Our initial task was to take control of the land and undertake a detailed fact-finding operation. We assessed all the disposal options and sought to structure a marketing strategy to release best value. We are delighted to have secured a sale to the Crown Estate.”
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The Crown Estate – a collection of UK lands and holdings belonging to the King Charles – views the transaction as a long term investment, the joint receivers said.
Mr Foster added: “The Crown Estate exists to generate valuable revenue for the Government and so the acquisition of the Dissington Estate is seen very much as a long term investment with potential asset managing opportunities that may arise.”
The Dissington Estate is one of the largest properties of its kind to come to market in the UK in recent years. The site includes more than 1,884 acres of arable land and 469 acres of pasture, the majority of which is currently let out as working farms, as well as a fishing pond let to a local angling club, let residential properties, and 151 acres of woodland.
The estate was initially put up for sale with a £27.5m price tag back in 2019, following a failed bid by developer Lugano to create a garden village on the land, with more than 2,000 homes and other facilities. The Dissington Garden Village proposals had been set for planning approval, but when the Conservatives formed the new administration at Northumberland County Council in May 2017, they called for a reassessment of the scheme.
At the time, Lugano made accusations against the local authority and writs were issued in the High Court that autumn. But in January 2019 the application was withdrawn from planning committee agendas with days to spare. Two months later the legal claims were dropped as it was revealed the estate was no longer in ownership of Lugano Property Group.
The leaseholder of Dissington Estate – Lugano Dissington Estate Ltd – has been in administration since 2019. Initial attempts to sell the estate that year did not result in a sale and it was withdrawn from the market, until August 2023 when Watling Real Estate became receivers.