New figures expose soaring levels of ‘garden grabbing’ – Bob Blackman

Growing calls to change Whitehall rules which are ruining local neighbourhoods

One in five new homes is being built on land that was previously a garden, according to new Government figures. The statistics from show soaring levels of ‘garden grabbing’ - the practice where property developers snap up family houses with gardens, knock them down and replace them with dense apartment blocks on the same plot. The number of homes being built on land that was previously a garden has risen by a third since 1997.

In Harrow – 50% of the new homes being built are on what were gardens.

Under planning rules introduced by John Prescott, gardens are classed as brownfield sites - just like a derelict factory or railway siding – meaning a presumption in favour of development. As a result, it is difficult for local councils to refuse planning permission without the risk that their decision is overturned by the Bristol-based Planning Inspectorate, which enforces Government planning policy.

The loophole has led to mature family homes being demolished and replaced by apartment blocks and carparks covering the whole footprint of the site - house and garden included.

In an ongoing campaign, Conservatives are pledging to help protect local gardens, by changing planning rules to give stronger protection to green spaces and allow communities to maintain the character of local neighbourhoods.

Bob Blackman said:

 “Across Harrow and the country, there is growing concern about gardens disappearing under concrete regardless of local opinion. This is the effect of Labour’s planning rules, which have put residential gardens on a par with derelict factories and gasworks, and which have triggered a wave of unpopular and unsustainable development.

“The character of neighbourhoods is being fundamentally changed in an unplanned and unsustainable way - with no concern for the environment or the lack of infrastructure.

“Gardens which are a rich source of biodiversity are increasingly being concreted over to make way for high blocks of flats, when the real demand is for family homes with sufficient parking spaces and areas for children to play. Gordon Brown now needs to listen to the wave of protest across the country and close this planning loophole.”

Further Information

WHITEHALL PLANNING RULES ENCOURAGE ‘GARDEN GRABBING’

In 2000, John Prescott introduced new planning rules on housing (so-called ‘PPG3’). This imposed on housing developments a new density requirement of 30-50 dwellings per hectare (12 – 18 dwellings/acre), and for the first time in planning rules, classed gardens as ‘brownfield’ land.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1143941

In November 2006, the Government issued revised guidance – so-called ‘PPS3’. However, gardens are still classed as brownfield land, and councils still must follow density targets of at least 30 dwellings per hectare.

“Previously-developed land is that which is or was occupied by a permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land and any associated fixed surface infrastructure” (p.26).

“30 dwellings per hectare (dph) net should be used as a national indicative minimum” (p.17).

DCLG, Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing, November 2006.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1504592

CONSERVATIVE CAMPAIGN

Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government & Communities, Caroline Spelman, is currently proposing a new law to change protect gardens and urban green space, to change the definition of brownfield land, and to give greater discretion to communities to set the right level of housing density for new developments. http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/GardensProtection.pdf

More information about the Conservative campaign against garden grabbing is available at:

http://www.conservatives.com/gardens

NEW LOCAL FIGURES ON GARDENG GRABBING

Although the Government do not collate precise figures for the number of gardens being covered in concrete, new answers to Parliamentary Questions by Conservatives have forced the Government to show the proportion of new homes and flats being build on ‘previously residential’ land – which shows a clear rise in the level of garden-grabbing.

New dwellings on previously residential land, as a proportion of all new dwellings

Sources:

Hansard, 24 May 2007, col 1524W.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070524/text/70524w0038.htm#column_1524W

Hansard, 20 June 2006, col. 1744W.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm060620/text/60620w1087.htm#column_1743W