Government defeated in Lords over 'garden grabbing'

The Government has been defeated on an amendment to the Planning Bill aimed at stopping "garden grabbing".

The Lords voted 135 to 128 - a majority of seven - to force councils to consider the preservation of gardens and urban green spaces when making planning decisions.

"Garden grabbing" takes place when developers knock down homes with large gardens to clear space for flats or several houses.

For Tories, Earl Cathcart, who introduced the amendment, said the "problem is the classification of back gardens as brownfield sites".

A survey of six councils showed a "staggering 72% of brownfield development was on gardens".

He warned: "Our gardens are under attack as never before."

The amendment would force planners to give "special regard" to the "desirability of preserving gardens, groups of gardens and urban green spaces".

For Liberal Democrats, Baroness Hamwee said: "We should not allow developers to be in the position of building on the easy plots, the easy sites, without regard to their function and their value in terms of quality of life."

Junior local government minister Baroness Andrews said she supported the amendment's "underlying aim" as "there are very serious concerns about this phenomena we know as garden grabbing". But she added that she could not accept it as "trying to separate the garden from the dwelling" for planning reasons would create problems.

There were powers in place to allow councils to deal with garden grabbing.

The report stage was concluded.