'Sneaky' Prescott planning to 'concrete over Britain's back gardens'

Leafy suburban back gardens will be "ripped apart" and replaced with blocks of flats under new planning rules being considered by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, the Conservatives claimed today.

They said there is evidence that Mr Prescott is planning to concrete over Britain's back gardens and councils will be powerless to stop it.

The Tories said the Government has given £2 million of taxpayers' money to planners and academics to investigate "urban densification."

The recommendations include that a development in suburban neighbourhoods should be double the current density and there is "considerable potential" for back garden development.

According to the Tories, other recommendations include that back gardens over 30 metres should be sold off for building and Green Belt land should be built over and any "local opposition" ignored.

The Conservatives said Mr Prescott is already consulting over new planning rules - so called PPS3 - which will impose new higher density targets on new housing developments.

In practice, the Tories said this means councils will be powerless to stop leafy suburban back gardens being ripped up and the plot replaced with blocks of flats.

The Deputy Prime Minister's current planning rules - PPG3 - already ify gardens as "brownfield" land, making them easier to concrete over and allowing the Government to produce bogus statistics proclaiming the "protection" of greenfield sites.

Shadow Minister for Local Government and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Eric Pickles, said "Britain's open spaces are now under real threat from John Prescott's bulldozers. Labour claim they want to regenerate urban sites, yet sneakily they don't even back gardens as "green" space.

"Councils are increasingly powerless to protect against growing urban sprawl and ugly "densification".

Local councillors should be able to stop blocks of flats being dumped in neighbourhoods if out of character with the area, the Tories claim.

"It is clear that John Prescott has Britain's back gardens in their sights and is bankrolling garden-grabbing studies with taxpayers' cash. But Labour fail to understand that young couples and families want new homes with gardens."

The Conservatives said they are supporting a proposed new law by Conservative MP Greg Clark, which seeks to stop back gardens being ed as brownfield land. It is estimated that two thirds of all brownfield housing development is now taking place on gardens.

Copyright Press Association 2006.