Back Garden Development - Round II

Caroline Spelman, for the Tories, demanded a shake-up of planning laws to prevent so-called "garden grabs" by housing developers.

Spelman urged ministers to close a planning loophole and end the blight of inappropriate garden development.

Spelman protested: "The present planning guidance is failing. It is failing communities who are powerless to prevent gardens and urban green spaces being developed." She said the problem arose through classification of back gardens as brownfield sites, the prioritisation of brownfield development and the density of targets for new housing.

The communities and local government secretary, Ruth Kelly, claimed that, for Tories, it was "a new day, a new policy". She said councils already had power to turn down "inappropriate development in gardens", adding: "There's no presumption that brownfield sites have to be built on."

Date: 23rd June 2006
Source: The Guardian