BRITAIN'S gardens are being swallowed up by property developers who are exposing planning loopholes that allow new housing estates to replace our flowers, lawns and shrubs.
Garden grabbing - the practice in which developers snap up properties with large gardens and squeeze new homes into them - has blighted the lives of thousands of Garden News readers.

But the blame is being laid firmly at the feet of local planning authorities who have not yet established clear policies.

Legislation introduced by John Prescott classified gardens as ‘brownfield' sites and open to development.

Housing and Planning Minister John Healey insists the issue isn't widespread enough for major concern, but the Garden News mailbag is bulging under the weight of complaints from concerned readers who are seeing the British landscape altered forever.

It's been predicted that green space equivalent to 2,755 Wembley football pitches would be wiped out by 2016 if garden grabbing continues.

The Minister DID admit local authorities are empowered to stop it but many have simply failed to put rules in place to protect our gardens.

"Councils are leaving an open door for inappropriate development if they do not have a local plan in place. Councils already have the tools they need to deal with this issue.

"Over time, so called garden grabbing can change the look and feel of a community without giving local people a choice," he said.

He did concede there were isolated hotspots where garden grabbing was a concern, but we believe the problem is far more wide ranging. That's why we are calling on you to tell us the towns, villages and cities where garden grabbing is happening.

John Healey used research carried out by a team at Kingston University to show that garden grabbing isn't on the up. Professor Sarah Sayce's team looked into the scale and type of garden development across the country and asked planners whether they regarded building in back gardens as a significant problem in their area.

All 363 local planning authorities in Britain were approached and 127 responded. The results showed that garden grabbing was of greatest concern in the south-east, but overall there had been no significant increase in garden developments between April 2003 and March 2008.

Conservative MP Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, told Garden News: "In contrast to the Labour Government's weak response, Conservatives will help local people protect the character of their area and give new powers to councillors to allow them to stop garden grabbing ruining local neighbourhoods."

Have your say - Garden News wants to know if your council is letting the garden grabbing developers change your neighbourhood. Post your comments below