Save Our Gardens
Garden grabbing is a practice where property developers snap up large detached houses, knock them down and then squeeze a small estate of new homes onto the same plot. This erosion of Britain's green spaces is made possible by a loophole in the law which sees gardens defined as brownfield sites, making them ripe for development.
Update
June 2010
Gardens offered protection from greedy grabbers
Years of campaigning by Garden Organic to prevent developers from building on back gardens have finally been recognised as Greg Clark MP gives Councils new powers to protect gardens by changing their brownfield classification.
Garden grabbing - where property developers snap up land with large houses on, knock them down and squeeze a small estate of new homes onto the same plot has gradually eroded Britain's urban green spaces.
Chief Executive of Garden Organic, Myles Bremner said, “When Garden Organic launched its Save Our Gardens campaign in 2007 our aim was to lobby against the act of greedily grabbing gardens for development made possible by a loophole in the law which previously saw gardens defined as brownfield sites, making them ripe for developers.”
“Save our Gardens aimed to promote the value of gardens above their mere financial worth, reflecting their value towards our health and well-being, and their vital role in protecting wildlife and the environment.”
“With the proportion of new houses built on previously residential land rising from one in ten to one in four between 1997 and 2008 Mr Clark's announcement gives us hope that attitudes to our precious urban and suburban green space is finally changing.”
Why our gardens matter:
- Gardens provide unique habitats encouraging wildlife and biodiversity; the total area of home gardens significantly contributes to nature conservation. Networks of gardens can create "green corridors" through urban sprawl.
- They offer space for rest and relaxation and are known to be important for people's health and well being – such as stress reducing.
- Provide space for domestic production of fruit and vegetables, enabling householders to reduce food miles and enjoy a level of self sufficiency.
- Help teach future generations about nature, not just observing it but actually participating in it.
- Provide the space and raw materials for composting kitchen and garden wastes (reducing landfill and transport of waste)
- Gardens reduce rainwater run off (a common cause of urban flooding).
- Lock up carbon in plants.
Garden Organic's role in the 'Garden Grabbing' debate
Garden Organic will continue to support efforts made by any party, organisation or body that attempts to address the problem of garden grabbing Garden Organic is proud that it has helped raise awareness of garden grabbing and that key players in Government are now actively reviewing current legislation. The Garden Grabbing debate is an important issue, which needs to be addressed if we are to protect green spaces in urban areas.
As an organisation that cares about gardens we maintain that without restrictions being imposed, the act of garden grabbing will continue to be a threat to suburban green spaces. However, we are hopeful that the communities and people individually affected by garden grabbing will succeed in amending the current loophole, which terms gardens as brownfield sites, resulting in mostly unchallenged planning approval by local authorities.
Garden Organic believes that gardening matters; that gardens are essential for health and well-being, the environment and the future of our food security. In order to support our standpoint on garden grabbing we will be focusing activity on getting more people growing. Gardens are valuable spaces that many people do not make the most of – possibly one of the reasons why garden grabbing became so common. We hope to change this and help people use their gardens as productive spaces for home food growing, tackling pollution and encouraging wildlife. We also want to help people make more sustainable choices when it comes to their gardening practices and we will help them do this through awareness raising, education and practical demonstration.
If you live in Scotland
Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) does not apply in Scotland BUT Scottish MPs sitting in the House of Commons have the right to vote on English laws, so if you support the campaign, please write to your MP and ask him or her to sign up to the campaign today.
Top of pageGarden Organic is the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA).
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