Wimborne Garden Grabbing

Does Wimborne have a problem with builders buying up gardens, or small areas of land, and building on them, trying to cram as many houses into as small a space as possible to maximise their profit? Are we becoming an over crowded town?

The new decentralisation minister Greg Clark is worried that our gardens are being swallowed up by new homes and plans to give local councils the power to prevent the building of new homes in back gardens. The South West and Poole in particular were mentioned as some of the worst areas in the country. And it’s true; you only have to make a quick trip around Wimborne to spot more than one recent construction on old gardens, or on a small space of empty land.

The luxury house that was built just before the bridge over the river Stour on Oakley Hill is a prime example. It was built on old gardens, the original houses knocked down to make way for the driveway. The house was put on the market for over a million and it never sold, now it’s going to be the site of several new homes. Do we really need them?

It isn’t needed, all it does is crowd houses uncomfortably together, with little or no green space, with neighbours sitting right on top of each other. Do we really want to live in a place that is as crowded as London?

I for one would not want to live anywhere where I could open my curtains in the morning and find my neighbour staring at me from her living room three feet away.

Do you think it has become a problem in Wimborne?