Our front gardens are disappearing at an accelerating rate. It's time to wake up to what is happening, and to get everyone, including local authorities and Government, to take action. If nothing is done, our residential roads could all end up looking like this!
1. Check out our Inspiration section and read the A Real-life Restoration - a Greenford, London Case Study which took a paved over front garden and greened it.
Raise awareness of the problems created by front garden hard surfacing in your community.
- Lobby your council to use the legal precedent set by the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, and refuse to permit crossovers on the grounds that they reduce the amount of parking available to the community as a whole.
- Report illegal crossovers and front garden parking to your council.
- Apply for Conservation Area status so that permitted development is withdrawn, and make sure front (and back) gardens are fully protected by strengthening existing Article 4 directions if necessary.
- Encourage low maintenance garden designs, garden competitions, and organise or take part in plant sales, exchanges and advice.
- Set up or support community gardening services for people having difficulty with garden maintenance. For example, see our friends at Lend and Tend.
- Set up or support incentives for people to reinstate their hard surfaced front gardens.
- Support Play Streets,
- Support Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
- Read about and support the Home Zone and Returning Roads to Residents initiatives. You can download a copy of UDAL Returning Roads To Residents a practical guide here.
