Government Ignores Plea to save Gloucestershire Gardens (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

Government Ignores Plea to save Gloucestershire Gardens

November 7, 2007 9:48 AM

The Government has brushed aside a plea by Gloucestershire County Council for action to reduce building on gardens across the County. A letter written last month from the Department of Communities and Local Government has ignored a County Council appeal for the abolition of the brown field status of residential gardens.

Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Jeremy Hilton, proposed a motion to council last June urging the Council to respond to the diminishing garden areas in Gloucestershire as a result of high density developments on existing residential sites.

Cllr Hilton said:

"It is important that the Government enables local authorities to respond to the need for more housing and protect the green belt, but excessive building on gardens is not the answer. Following my recommendation the County Council has rightly taken this issue up with the Government. We wanted the brown field status of gardens to be abolished so that planning authorities would have greater freedom to refuse permission to inappropriate proposals to build over existing gardens. The letter from the Government skirts around the issue and shows that they will continue to tie the hands of local authorities and prevent them from protecting the character of existing residential areas."

Cllr Hilton added:

"Developers are increasingly buying up properties and building upon the gardens, and this involves felling unprotected trees and threatening bird habitats. There is no doubt that building upon so many residential gardens is bad for biodiversity, not to mention the appearance, character and living conditions of our local neighbourhoods."

Cllr Roger Brown, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Environment, seconded the motion. Cllr Brown said:

"I am appalled by these weasel words from the Government. This response turns a blind eye to the issues of privacy, living conditions and biodiversity raised by our motion. Furthermore, the Government wrote this response after Gloucestershire's great flood, to which run off from concreted over gardens contributed in no small measure. So much for the Government's commitment to protecting the environment and raising the quality of living! So much for the Government's commitment to protecting Gloucestershire from future flooding!"