Buying a site - Research

I am just looking for a list of things i can do to research a site i would be interested in buying. What resources are available and where? Things like maps with boundaries, Aerial photos, previous planning permissions. Basically anything you can research about the site in question. It would be good to see what information you can gather and people will know of things i never would have thought of. Thanks for your help!

First port of call the local relevant authority online planning site. Most if not all of the LAs have brilliant sites with full planning records and maps.
The Land Registry has the details of who owns what but, and someone can correct me, I think there may be conditions about what you can and can't see as a not specifically interested party i.e. neighbour, owner, etc. I guess you could check out the Land Registry website for their terms and conditions before you spend time popping into to them.
Of course you can always get a solicitor to do a full search for you in advance at a cost above what you might pay with the DIY job if you are just speculatively interested.

http://www.ipav.ie/maps
http://www.osi.ie/ or http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

land registry http://www.landdirect.ie/eng/

previous council planning info - particular to your council - here's Corks http://maps.corkcoco.ie/planningenquiryv3/LAResources/info.aspx

particular to development plan to your council - here corks http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/web/Cork ...ing Policy Unit (PPU)/County Development Plan

cork rural housing design guide book (one the of more comprehensive and maybe the first) [broken link removed] the Meath one is worth a look too [broken link removed] take this info seriously!!!

info on house building
[broken link removed]

building regulations http://www.environ.ie/en/TGD/

passive house standard[broken link removed]

once you've picked the site and discussed a 'purchase on receipt of planning permission' - go a speak to several local architects/ architectural technicians and the best of luck

Thanks for some great sites! It will keep me busy for a while!!!!