Garden Grabbing

GREG CLARK: My name is Greg Clark and I'm the Minister for Decentralisation. When I was first elected an MP 4 years ago I introduced a Private Members Bill to tackle a problem that was happening in my constituency, and around the country, one of garden grabbing. This came about because gardens were classified as brown field sites, just in the same way as a disused gasworks or an old railway siding. And the consequence of that was that there was effectively a presumption that they should be developed. And that meant that local councils had too little protection against applications that they didn't want to see progress and that were going to change the character of their communities. TONY BAILEY: Right, well welcome to my back garden in sunny Bromley, and to the building site next door. As you can hear there is a lot of building work going on has been for some weeks now - and I believe there will be for most of this year. Now we are expecting that the houses will be built just here behind me. And rising some 30 feet up at the boundary of my fence, approximately half way down the garden. ALEXA MICHAEL: Traditionally Bromley's planning policies have been geared to protecting the green belt and our open spaces. And we regard domestic back gardens as being very much part of that. TONY BAILEY: One of the problems has been that throughout this the council have supported local residents and been undermined by the process whereby appeal after appeal has rendered their opposition completely pointless. ALEXA MICHAEL: That is very, very frustrating and very disappointing, because it means power is being taken away from Local Authorities to decide what's best for local people. Councillors are elected locally, by local people. And I'd like to think that we, as a local planning authority, do know more than the appeals inspector about our area and what people want. TONY BAILEY: This development attracted a lot of local opposition. And of course there was the impact on the environment. Now this area is known for its environmental assets. There's a nature conservation site which is just behind me here, which is not really viable on its own. It relies on the back gardens in the area to act as a sort of green lung around it. ALEXA MICHAEL: Hopefully with the new legislation restoring back gardens as green field sites, it will make it much easier to refuse unwanted developments on domestic back gardens, so that they can be preserved as open recreational space. GREG CLARK: So having introduced my Private Members Bill in the last Parliament, and having it opposed by the Government, I'm fantastically excited that today my first decision as a minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government is to introduce the provisions of that bill. To change the designation of gardens so that they are no longer brown field sites no longer the same as the derelict industrial land. And that means that local communities will once again get the chance to decide whether they want to keep a particular garden or whether they think it's better that it should be built on. That's where decision making power should rest. We want to get decisions out of central government, and from ministers and officials down to the people that know our communities best. And I'm very excited that we've been able to take a step forward today.