Greenbelt plots sold off in India

Janendra Jain said he hoped to build a bungalow on his land

A Kent local authority has said a plot of land sold to an Indian investor who hopes to build a bungalow is extremely unlikely to get planning permission.

The 350 sq metre (418 sq yard) plot near Paddock Wood was sold to Janendra Jain, who lives in Delhi, for £12,000 by a property company.

Several companies who buy pieces of land then split them into small plots are advertising in Indian newspapers.

But Maidstone Borough Council said the land was in a protected greenbelt area.

"It is extremely unlikely that planning permission would be granted in the foreseeable future," said spokesman for the council, Roger Adley.

"The land is in open countryside in an area likely to flood."

They told me that the permission will take three to four years. Janendra Jain

Mr Jain said he bought the land as an investment for his grandsons.

"When they grow up I want them to go to study in the UK and settle down there," he told the BBC, speaking through an interpreter.

"I want to make a bungalow on the plot."

The practice of buying plots of countryside, dividing them up and offering them for sale as individual investment plots is known as land banking.

The company, UK Land Investments, which sold Mr Jain's land refused to be interviewed by BBC South East Today.

Another unconnected company which has the same name said rogue traders were giving the business a bad name.

"Some companies will promise fantastic returns of 1,000% or more," said spokesman Nigel Walter.

The land near Paddock Wood is in protected greenbelt

"They will promise guaranteed planning permission or even that you can build a house on a particular investment plot.

"If any offer sounds too good to be true that is usually because it is."

Mr Jain said he had no regrets.

"They (the company) have not cheated me - they told me everything.

"They told me that the permission will take three to four years. Even if it gets rejected they will reapply."

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is worried about land banking, which it says can have a significant impact.

"The countryside that we know and love so much is there because people have been carefully managing it for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years," said Kent CPRE spokeswoman Hilary Newport.

"If it is fenced up and parcelled off, who is going to look after it?"