DEVELOPMENT on garden land is not new. It has been happening for many years. What is new is the Government’s reaction to the perceived problem of “garden grabbing” by amending Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) to remove private residential gardens from the definition of previously developed land (known colloquially as brownfield).

Arguably, there is nothing wrong with constructing an additional dwelling or dwellings on a residential garden, where appropriate.

This was recognised by the Labour Government, which commissioned a report into the issue published in January.

A minister concluded that local planning authorities had adequate powers to address local issues, rather than national policy being required.

Chief planning officers were reminded that all garden land is not necessarily suitable for housing development and that in areas where a particular problem exists, local policies should be used to address it.

The new coalition Government wasted no time in sweeping aside the findings in favour of imposing national policy to deal with the problem, seemingly based upon public opinion from the South-East.

It appears that in the South-East the term “garden grabbing” describes situations where high-density apartments or housing estates are built on gardens of large Victorian properties. There is no evidence that such a problem exists in the North-East.

Last month, the Government introduced an amendment to PPS3 which removes private residential gardens from the definition of previously developed land. Private residential gardens, for which there is no definition, have been lumped into the exclusion from “previously developed land” along with parks, recreation grounds and allotments. Little thought appears to have been given to how that sits with the rest of the wording applying to parks, recreation grounds and allotments.

The upshot is that whether or not buildings on garden land can ever be considered brownfield and, if so, in what circumstances, is unclear.

It is too early to say with certainty what the impact will be on developers who wish to obtain planning permission for an additional residential dwelling within the garden of an existing dwelling.

However, it seems likely that it will increase the burden on such developers by being a further obstacle to be overcome in the planning process.

■ Neil Carter is a solicitor specialising in planning at BHP Develop. He can be contacted on 0191-221-0898.