Save Our Gardens
Garden grabbing is a practice where property developers snap up large detached houses, knock them down and then squeeze a small estate of new homes onto the same plot. This erosion of Britain's green spaces is made possible by a loophole in the law which sees gardens defined as brownfield sites, making them ripe for development.
Update
May 2009
In late 2008, Conservative peers attempted to include an amendment to the Planning Act going through parliament to combat the act of 'garden grabbing'. The amendment they proposed would have required local councils to protect urban green spaces when making planning decisions.
However, on November 27th 2008, during a vote in the House of Commons, Labour MPs overturned the amendment, promising instead to conduct a “review” of the issue. Announcing the review, Baroness Andrews, said the Government was not yet convinced that the over-development of gardens was a “genuine” problem. She said: “We are proposing to begin a review early in the new year of evidence on the extent of development on back gardens to ascertain whether there is a clear or genuine problem.”
“If there is a problem, we will take action to remedy the situation by, for example, making revisions to policy, changing the definition of previously developed land or offering targeted support and guidance to local authorities.”
The terms of the review have yet to be set, but in April 2009 the Conservative party publicly raised the issue once again by announcing that if it came into power at the next general election that it would change the automatic status given to household gardens as 'brownfield' sites. Therefore making gardens harder to be exploited by developers.
Garden Organic's role in the 'Garden Grabbing' debate
Garden Organic will continue to support efforts made by any party, organisation or body that attempts to address the problem of garden grabbing Garden Organic is proud that it has helped raise awareness of garden grabbing and that key players in Government are now actively reviewing current legislation. The Garden Grabbing debate is an important issue, which needs to be addressed if we are to protect green spaces in urban areas.
As an organisation that cares about gardens we maintain that without restrictions being imposed, the act of garden grabbing will continue to be a threat to suburban green spaces. However, we are hopeful that the communities and people individually affected by garden grabbing will succeed in amending the current loophole, which terms gardens as brownfield sites, resulting in mostly unchallenged planning approval by local authorities.
Garden Organic believes that gardening matters; that gardens are essential for health and well-being, the environment and the future of our food security. In order to support our standpoint on garden grabbing we will be focusing activity on getting more people growing. Gardens are valuable spaces that many people do not make the most of – possibly one of the reasons why garden grabbing became so common. We hope to change this and help people use their gardens as productive spaces for home food growing, tackling pollution and encouraging wildlife. We also want to help people make more sustainable choices when it comes to their gardening practices and we will help them do this through awareness raising, education and practical demonstration.
If you live in Scotland
Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) does not apply in Scotland BUT Scottish MPs sitting in the House of Commons have the right to vote on English laws, so if you support the campaign, please write to your MP and ask him or her to sign up to the campaign today.
Top of pageGarden Organic is the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA).
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