Lib Dems take "Hands off our Back Gardens" signatures to the Government

College Ward Councillor Julie Morris took nearly 1000 signatures from Epsom residents to Minister Hazel Blears's office on a wet and windy day recently. Local residents had signed Cllr Anna Jones' petition supporting the national Lib Dem "Hands off our Back Gardens" campaign, which seeks to reclassify back gardens as "green". Currently they are treated as brownfield sites and therefore available for redevelopment!

Cllr Morris said "I believe we are being targeted in Epsom because some roads have very large gardens, property prices are high and Epsom has attained a certain status as a good place to live. Developers even put up signs saying "contact us if you have a large back garden". In College Ward we are fire-fighting back garden development at the moment, but it's everywhere and getting worse. We simply cannot afford to lose these valuable green spaces and our petition is just one way we can show the government that they need to change planning law."

Julie Morris handed in the petition with Stamford ward resident Leslie Coman. Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Carshalton & Wallington and others, were also in attendance, with signatures from other boroughs adding weight to the Lib Dem campaign.