Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 88: 88: After Clause 32, insert the following new Clause— ““Duty as respects gardens and urban green space in exercise of planning functions After section 71A of TCPA 1990 (assessment of environmental effects) insert— ““71B Duty as respects gardens and urban green space in exercise of planning functions In the exercise of any function under or by virtue of the planning Acts, the Greater London Authority Act 1999 or the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, special regard shall be had by the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority to the desirability of preserving gardens and urban green spaces within the Greater London Authority area.””.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, we come to a different area of garden protection, which takes us a little bit away from what we have been discussing, but it is a new innovation in the Bill. This amendment is inspired by the Private Member’s Bill introduced in another place by my honourable friend Caroline Spelman, which has received a warm welcome and support from all parties and from environmental campaigners. Gardens and green space are nowhere more important than in London, where the provision of habitat for wildlife and a sense of space and greenness depend to a huge extent on the existence of gardens, both front and back. Indeed, gardens are a glory of many parts of the suburbs of our capital city and provide vital oases in the city’s heart. Gardens are under attack as never before—under double pressure from planning policies that are skewed in favour of infill, backfill and the demolition of suburban properties to increase densities and from ill thought out parking policies that promote the paving over of front gardens to avoid the imposition of parking charges. In the context of this Bill we can do nothing about the pressure from parking policies, such as the introduction of tax surcharges for parking family cars on the highway, which in turn will lead inevitably to the paving over of front gardens. I appeal to all those who are concerned, and the Mayor, to read the outstanding report from the GLA, Crazy Paving. The GLA report appeals to the Mayor and to London boroughs to think carefully before implementing planning and parking policies that will lead to the loss of front gardens. I hope that more attention will be given to this. It would be tragic if a mix of misguided planning policies led to more of our beautiful suburban front gardens being turned into environmentally damaging parking lots. I urge the Government to consider at the highest level this ongoing environmental loss. How much more do the same considerations apply to back gardens? Here, too, the designation of gardens as brownfield sites unbalances any consideration to protect green space, green vistas and gardens, which leads to an accelerated loss of back gardens. I know of recent cases where, despite past local decisions by inspectors, lack of any specific requirement to protect or to consider the protection of gardens has led to the green light being given to developers intent on building not only higher density flats, but single residences in back gardens. These actions inevitably destroy the character of an area for ever. Both the Royal Horticultural Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have ongoing campaigns to protect gardens, and I believe that it is essential that we inject into the GLA a planning process and some balancing element requiring consideration for these green spaces. I very much hope that the Government will see the importance of this protection in both planning and environmental terms. Even at this late stage of the Bill, I ask the Minister to give positive consideration to incorporating some such proposal. Unless it is specifically included, concreting of the suburbs will drive on apace, to the loss of us all and future generations. If the precise wording of the amendment is not acceptable to the Minister, we would be delighted to discuss improved wording before Third Reading, to try to incorporate protection for London’s gardens in the overall planning considerations of the Mayor and the Greater London Authority. I beg to move.