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Montage of membership benefits

Seven reasons against Garden Grabbing

Number 1

Gardens offer unique and diverse habitats. As the BUGS Project (Biodiversity in Urban Gardens in Sheffield), conducted by Dr Ken Thompson and colleagues at Sheffield University, has shown, gardens provide not only very varied habitats but also may be the best breeding grounds for some species, given the minimal support for wildlife in conventional farmland.

The more gardens are destroyed, the more we threaten our environmental heritage and its future.


Number 2

Gardens offer rest and recuperation, an antidote to stress. Research has been undertaken which shows gardening is a better answer to stress than medical remedies for people suffering severe stress. But gardeners know just stepping out into a garden causes people to breathe differently and move at a different pace.

Interestingly, there are more members of the All Party Parliamentary Horticulture & Gardening Group than any other Parliamentary Group and many MPs cite "enjoying getting out into my garden" as their personal antidote to stress.

The more gardens are destroyed, the fewer opportunities people will have to reduce stress in the natural environment.


Number 3

We all know "children are our future" but what future are they offered if they have not grown up with access to a garden, able to sample "a peck of dirt" to help build up their immune system; to discover the fascinating world of worms through natural curiosity or make their first encounter with plants by growing nasturtiums?

The more gardens are destroyed, the fewer children will be able to experience the natural world at first hand. It is not the same to have a park nearby.


Number 4

The Government has set targets for all sorts of issues - sometimes in complete contradiction of each other (even from the same department). This applies to gardens in relation to reducing landfill. Where there were one or two houses with large gardens, the likelihood was that inhabitants composted garden and kitchen waste. Now, replaced by 24 dwellings, much more refuse will be going to landfill from the number of properties and the inability of any of the inhabitants to compost any kitchen waste.

The more gardens are destroyed and replaced with close density housing, the less opportunity there is for people to recycle or compost.


Number 5

Gardens provide excellent ways for rainwater to be passed through our ecosystem, nurturing plants and the earth before reaching rivers. However, where a house and garden is redeveloped into flats, the tendency is to extend the building right to the edge of the site so that footprint is changed from mixed land use to being purely tarmac and concrete. As a result, the water is less well used and, at times of heavy rainfall, it is more likely to cause flash flooding, with overfull drains that cannot cope.

The more gardens are destroyed and replaced by tarmac, the more this threatens good water management.


Number 6

Gardens act as a carbon sink and help reduce emissions. Without all the greenery, plants and trees, more carbon dioxide would be released into the atmosphere so increasing the effect of global warming.

The more gardens are destroyed, the more our environment is being damaged.


Number 7

Having a garden is fundamental to having a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. With increasing levels of obesity it is more and more important to get out and about, and where better or safer to do it than in a garden? Growing food at home also helps us to become more environmentally friendly and healthy.

Without a garden people lack a place to exercise and grow their own food.


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