Communities minister Ian Austin has noted that planning guidance which makes gardens part of the curtilage of homes for planning and statistical purposes - a central feature of the Conservative onslaught on "garden grabbing" - was actually introduced by the party when it was in power.
Conservative planning spokesman Bob Neill asked which part of the 1992 planning guidance referred to in an earlier answer defined brownfield land for planning purposes, but received some unwelcome news in a Commons written answer.
Mr Austin pointed out that land classification in 1985 in the first report on Land Use Change in England included a "residential" category that covered "houses, flats and adjoining garages, gardens, estate roads and pathways, sheltered accommodation where residences have separate front entrances".
"This classification thus established the principle that gardens should not be separated from the curtilage when establishing for statistical purposes whether residential land has been redeveloped for other purposes," he said.
"The 1992 Planning Policy Guidance Note (Housing) drew on the 1985 based classification. It states that ‘recent information on land use changes in England shows that nearly half of the land developed for housing was either previously developed or was vacant land in built up areas'."
He said what counted as "previously developed" in this context was plainly based on the classifications in use since 1985.
