It was announced this morning that Communities minister Greg Clark has pledged to reclassify gardens as no longer being considered as Brownfield sites thus making it harder to build on garden spaces. As it was only announced this morning quite what this means hasn’t been made clear yet. The intention seems to be to block developers who buy large detached houses, knock them down, and then build 10 houses on the site. I am not sure how it will effect people such as myself who are hoping to build on land in the suburbs that was previously part of a garden. I have been discussing it with a few people this morning and it sounds like it will be more that the decision will become a local authority one and will be largely effected by neighbours complaints.

I’m not sure if I mentioned that the piece of land we are trying to build on is next to where my father lives. He is a long time resident and on good terms with his neighbours. From the start when we had the idea to build the house my father has kept the neighbours fully informed, showing them where the house would be and talking about it with them. So far the neighbours have all been very positive, one person even said it would be an asset to have a younger couple living in a more affordable ‘eco’ house! I have my fingers tightly crossed that the harmony will continue as I would love to have a solution that everyone in the locality will be happy with! Now it sounds like this work that my dad has been putting in to help get the ‘buy-in’ of the neighbours could be essential. We have been lucky to have him there already putting a good word in with the community.

As for the wider moral/ecological/community issue of building on what would have been empty or garden land I do agree that garden space is essential for wildlife and the whole feel of a neighbourhood. They have been described as the lungs of a city. In opposition to this I have heard the argument that if housing density isn’t increased in the suburbs then it will threaten greenbelt and the wider countryside as the housing needs need to be catered for somewhere. I am going to keep listening to the various arguments as it is an interesting debate, I suspect that like a lot of things it is something that needs to be considered case-by-case.

I however do not have any great qualms about what we want to do. The site is currently a piece of bare earth, a bit of lawn, and some trees. We intend to keep the majority of trees and I also intend to do my more-is-more style of veg + flowers organic gardening around the site which I do in my current garden. My current garden was just a lawn and a fence when I moved in. At that time there were a noticeable lack of insects and birds for the first year, now however after three years of me I digging up most of the lawn and filling the place with all sorts of fruit, veg, and flowers the place is buzzing with bees around my sage plants, birds nesting in the wisteria, and frogs under the ferns. I guess it all depends on what you want to do.