Minister opposes legislation designed to end "garden grabbing"

The government has insisted that legislation which would change existing planning regulations in a bid to outlaw "garden grabbing" was "over-bureaucratic and unnecessary" and could have the perverse effect of actually encouraging more building on green spaces and gardens.

Angela Smith, the junior planning minister, signalled government opposition to a new Bill, proposed by Conservative shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman MP, when it was given a second reading in the Commons.

The Land Use (Gardens Protection) Bill would give local authorities specific powers to protect gardens and urban green space, would allow councils to set net dwelling density targets without intervention by the Secretary of State and would effectively remove the powers of the Welsh Assembly Government to intervene in the case of a draft local development plan that it considers unsatisfactory.

Issues to do with housing policy and density would be solely a matter for Welsh local planning authorities, according to the private members Bill.

Spelman told the Commons that her Bill acknowledged "the crucial part gardens and urban green spaces play in creating balanced and rewarding places to live. It's about making sure we get the right homes in the right places. And above all, it is about giving planning authorities and the communities they represent a real say in the shape of their neighbourhoods".
 
Voicing government opposition to the measures, Smith insisted that primary legislation was unnecessary. The minister listed existing planning policy guidance which required local authorities to have special regard to gardens and urban green spaces.

She also stressed that PPS3 put a strong emphasis on the quality of residential design and layout. The minister agreed that local authorities should have flexibility in setting density policies to reflect local circumstances and argued it was unnecessary to include such a measure in primary legislation.

Smith told MPs that the problems the Bill attempted to address could be addressed through the local development plan and PPS3.

The minister also rejected the point, repeated by a number of MPs during the Commons debate, that local councils felt powerless to stop back-garden development.

Smith said: "The point came up again and again about local authorities feeling powerless. I cannot accept that. We have to understand that 99 per cent of planning applications are decided by local authorities. When the go to inspect a site, it is important that councils have clear development plans by which those are judged."

Read the full Hansard text here

More information about the "Land Use (Gardens Protection etc) Bill 2006-07" bill

Roger Milne

9 February 2007