Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken since May 2010 to tackle garden grabbing and protect residential gardens.

In June 2010 the Government removed domestic gardens in built-up areas from the definition of ‘brownfield’ land. This strengthened the discretion of local authorities to refuse intrusive new dwellings on residential garden land. We retained that policy when we revised the National Planning Policy Framework in June 2018. This does not impose a complete ban on the use of redundant garden land for housing. We expect local authorities to consider what is the appropriate density for a residential area, to resist inappropriate development, and to ensure green infrastructure is maintained in built-up areas.