New powers to prevent garden-grabbing
9 June 2010
The RHS has welcomed the news that councils in England are to get greater powers to stop developers building homes on gardens.
Communities and Local Government minister Greg Clark has announced that immediate powers are being given to prevent the destructive practice of 'garden grabbing' and decide what types of homes are suitable for their area.
The minister has also pledged to reclassify gardens, currently in the ‘brownfield’ planning category used for ex-factory and railway land.
Dr Simon Thornton Wood, Director of Science and Learning at the Royal Horticultural Society said: “We welcome any measure that protects the vital resource we know gardens to be.
"Gardens like parks, are the green lungs of cities, improving air quality, controlling air temperature and flood risk and providing a haven for wildlife.
"Beyond these very practical benefits of gardens we know that gardening is great for physical and mental health. That’s why we would like planning measures to go further than protecting existing gardens, to guarantee high quality green space and gardening opportunities in all new building developments, wherever they are.”
Recent government figures suggest the proportion of houses built on previously residential land, such as gardens, increased from one in 10 in 1997 to one in four in 2008.
Minister Greg Clark said today: "For years the wishes of local people have been ignored as the character of neighbourhoods and gardens has been destroyed, robbing communities of vital green space.
"It is ridiculous that gardens have until now been classified in the same group as derelict factories and disused railway sidings, forcing councils and communities to sit by and watch their neighbourhoods get swallowed up in a concrete jungle.
"Today I am changing the classification of garden land so councils and communities have the power to work with industry to shape future development that is appropriate for their area."
He also pledged further reforms to the planning system, so councils and communities are "centre-stage in a reformed system that works for them, and is not just a tool of top-down policy".
In January, the Department for Communities and Local Government said the definition of brownfield land had not changed since the 1980s, but that developers' targets had altered.