The one thing which can not be increased is the amount of land in the country so the efficient use of the land is crucial whether it’s for housing, industrial use, educational or for leisure. Open spaces and gardens are key to a tranquil life where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of very day life. Most homes have their own garden space where they can make the most of this private space pursuing the hobby of gardening or with their feet up in their summer house or garden shed.
The British are very fond of being ‘king of their castle’ and owning their little bit of ‘our green and pleasant land’ which is very different to most of our European neighbours where renting in more of the ‘norm’. However, I’m still sure that in Europe the garden plays a very big role as well as well as the hobby of gardeners and relaxing in their gardens. I don’t believe that garden sheds are as popular in Europe as this shed craze seems to be more of a British thing with the history going back at least 80 years or so.
However, with the limited amount of land available it’s inevitable that this will push the price of properties up making it hard for people to get onto the property market. I do remember when my wife and myself bought our property in 1977 and having to make the decision that there would be no holidays for at least 3 years as the payments were quite high. One of the attractions for me was a massive garden shed built across the bottom of the garden. This was not a mass produced shed but one the previous owner had built him self and this stayed for many years until after I started my garden shed company.
When I was in a rented property I have a master plan to grow mushrooms on one of these ‘get quick schemes’. I needed a garden shed for this where they could be grown in the dark so I did actually build myself one from old house floorboards and floor joists cut into 2×2 framing. What my neighbours thought of this monstrosity of a garden shed – I never found out.
Over in Northern Ireland they considered introducing new planning laws to stop the building of new homes on small garden plots. This often meant that the garden was reduced in size with even garden sheds being disposed of so the home owner could make the most of their little bit of land. Their arguments were that the building of more homes had been linked with their wider strategy of flood prevention. By more gardens being lost there was less open ground left to absorb the rainfall and increasing the risk of flooding where these garden had been.
Also in Northern Ireland they were proposing to make greater use of water permeable paving slabs in built up areas to boost their flood protection. This hopefully will help where the garden space has been lost. Concerns had also been raised over the lost of open green spaces and back gardens which is, potentially, a great problem for the future.
The Northern Ireland minister, Edwin Pools stressed the importance of ensuring that new housing developments fit into the local environment and also the local character of the residential areas. He further said that the draft policies include a certain amount of flexibility which allows for greater density housing schemes where the use of imagination and innovation will play a greater part in the future. This will help to protect the existing gardens and garden buildings from being built upon..
Only recently schemes to convert industrial buildings into houses with small gardens was announced. And in Hounslow, near London, steps are being made to check on peoples garden sheds to ensure that they are not being lived in. I’m a great believer that people should be able to do what they want on their own property provided they don’t annoy or affect their fellow citizens in doing so.
