Zac Goldsmith :: Campaigns :: Protect our green spaces

Recently published Government figures show that the proportion of new houses built on previously residential land such as gardens has risen dramatically, from one in ten to one in four between 1997 and 2008 – robbing communities of green breathing space, safe places for children to play and havens for urban wildlife.

Instead of being protected as havens for wildlife, not to mention the sheer pleasure they bring communities, gardens have had the status of neglected industrial wasteland. We have now changed that, as we said we would before the election.

I’m delighted that the Government has taken action to help local people protect the character of their area and empower councillors to stop inappropriate developments. The Department for Communities and Local Government will remove gardens from the definition of brownfield land in Planning Policy Statement 3, and will abolish national ‘density targets’.

There are so many cases of garden grabbing in the area – too many for any MP to fight. That’s why I helped to establish the following website; www.protectourgreenspaces.com. It’s a web-based campaign toolkit designed to help people campaign more effectively. If you have time, I encourage you to have a look. It has helped others and I hope it will help you too.

If you need advice or assistance with your own 'Garden Grabbing' issue, please contact, Helena Reimnitz on reimnitz@btinternet.com or call on 020 8939 0321 and she will investigate your situation and help you develop an effective campaign. Alternatively, please visit the designated website: www.protectourgreenspaces.com.
It has helped others and I hope it will help you too.

I will be encouraging the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP to change the rules so that local Councillors can campaign on behalf of their constituents without fear of breaking the rules of ‘pre-determination’ and losing their right to vote. The current rules make no sense at all.

Zac talks about 'Protecting our green spaces'

Further reading

Keep off the Grass, Stop building on our Gardens

The Battle for our back gardens

Update: 20th January 2010

Councils CAN stop Garden Grabbing

John Healy the Housing Minister, has admitted that ‘garden grabbing’ by developers has become a serious problem in ‘hot spots’ around the country, but has lambasted Councils for allowing it to happen.

Kingston and Richmond Councils have always blamed central Government for the intense problem we face here with inappropriate developments, but the Minister states that Councils already have the power to prevent the development of gardens and green spaces.

He has said that local authorities have been “sitting back and washing their hands” of a problem which they can prevent simply by including protection of gardens in their annual local plans – the statement which local planning authorities issue to describe how they see development in their area.

The Minister’s view is backed up by a Kingston University review which found that areas which had stated a preference for limited building on gardens found it easier to turn down developers’ applications.

It is certainly the case that new rules brought in by John Prescott eroded the distinction between Greenfield land and brownfield land, and that needs to be reversed by the next Government. In the past five years, 180,000 new homes have been built on gardens and land already containing a property. In some areas as much as 94 per cent of residential development is on gardens or occupied land, with the London suburbs being worst hit. I will continue to push for that change to be made.

But in the meantime, we need to demand questions of our own Lib Dem Councils which have allowed an astonishing number of inappropriate developments in this area. We need to know why Richmond and Kingston Councils have put up so little resistance, and what they will now do to protect our green spaces in light of the Ministers' statements.

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Campaigns :: Protect our green spaces