Has any other Civic Society experienced the problem of “garden grabbing” in which developers acquire a large detached house, knock it down and then pack an estate of small new homes onto the plot. The local authority say that there is virtually nothing that they can do to stop these applications because gardens are surprisingly considered by planners to be “brownfield” land i.e. previously developed instead of green field land, as you might expect.

This practice whereby builders can exploit the planning loopholes is rife in the South East and I would really like to know if it is happening elsewhere.

Louise