End of so called 'garden grabbing'

The government has made an announcement to stop so called 'garden grabbing.' It has changed planning guidance for private gardens to curb the building of new homes. Up until now private gardens have been classified as 'previously developed' or 'brown field' but this has been altered. 

This will have implications for many sites in the Wyre Forest district and the Council's Planning Section is urging developers to review their schemes and contact them for advice.  The Section will be reviewing the advice they have recently given based on the old planning guidance.

Any pre-application schemes which have not already advanced to a formal planning application, and been approved, are likely to be affected by the change.

The changes to the definition of 'previously developed land' are set out within Annex B of the revised Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3), and clearly exclude private residential gardens. 

There are other changes to PPS 3, including changes to minimum densities.

Read the Revised PPS3  (325K)

If you have any queries  please contact the Worcestershire Hub by email or telephone 01562 732928.