| Subject |
Tobias
will speak in a House of Commons debate to ask the Government
to stop concreting over private gardens
|
| Ref |
PR/06-137 |
| Date |
Tuesday
20th June 2006 |
Tobias Ellwood
MP will speak in tomorrow's House of Commons debate to call on the
Government to protect Bournemouth residents' private gardens and
end a process known as 'garden grabbing'.
The Conservatives
are aiming to stop privately owned back gardens, officially classified
by the Government as 'brown field' sites, being concreted over for
new housing. They have criticised the Government for allowing intensive
overdevelopment and cramming in mini-estates and blocks of flats
and concreting over back gardens, irrespective of the character
of neighbourhoods.
Tobias said:
"Increasingly
developers, looking to make a quick profit, are taking advantage
of a loophole in planning guidelines which classify residential
gardens as Brown field sites. Adjoining back gardens are being purchased
and built upon, with little regard to how the increased density
of housing affects the character of the area or the pressure placed
on the local infrastructure.
Matters in Bournemouth
are compounded by the SW Regional Assembly committing Bournemouth
to building around 1,000 more dwellings a year. Development is rapidly
outstripping community facilities and infrastructure and Bournemouth
is now seen as an easy touch for so called 'infilling'. New dwellings
are being built here at over ten times the national rate.
Many of the
new developments are visually intrusive and often detrimental to
the existing urban environment. They lack adequate parking and deprive
neighbouring properties of privacy and sunlight.
Ironically,
we do have genuine brown field sites in Bournemouth, for example
the old Bus Depot on Mallard Road. Rather than build houses here
the site has been listed and will now house a new Homebase Centre,
despite the fact it sits just yards from the biggest B&Q in
the country. This clearly illustrates how poor development policy
is changing our town."
|
