Martin welcomes garden-grabbing rethink

10.26.00am GMT Tue 25th Nov 2008

CHELTENHAM MP last night voted for an amendment to the Planning Bill to clearly protect back gardens from so-called 'garden-grabbing' for development. Although the amendment was defeated, the minister did concede a review of the issue in the new year. Since the Liberal Democrats took control of Cheltenham Borough Council in May they have already taken steps to clamp down on garden-grabbing locally but national rules still define back gardens as 'brownfield' or previously developed land.

The minister said: "I do not have a closed mind on this, but the evidence on which to base policy decisions, let alone legislative changes, is not yet clear or available. Early in the new year, we will review the evidence on the extent of development on back gardens in order to establish whether there is a genuine problem. If there is, we will take action to remedy the situation."

After the debate, Martin commented: "The minister has made a rather grudging concession that the government will review 'garden-grabbing'. They claim to have no evidence of a problem but they should come to Cheltenham and see how hard local residents are having to fight against back gardens being swallowed by inappropriate developments. And they would see how local councillors and residents have been powerless to prevent developments like the one in Libertus Road in St.Mark's where five houses are being built across four gardens. When you see Cheltenham from the air, it's obvious that much of our green space is actually made up of peoples' gardens. Unless we protect them we could lose a huge proportion of the town's green areas."