THE MP for Chipping Barnet has welcomed changes to planning laws giving councils more control over which applications they allow.

Current planning laws mean councils must treat gardens as brownfield sites, meaning they have priority for building in the same way as old industrial sites.

This meant councils were less able to reject applications as they could well have been upheld on appeal, a costly process for them to go through.

However, last week the government announced plans to change the status of back gardens to allow them to be green field sites, giving councils more say on what developments are allowed.

They also scrapped density targets, giving more discretion on where developments like blocks of flats can be erected.

Theresa Villiers MP said: “This announcement is great news for my constituents. Barnet Council receives a large number of planning applications for blocks of flats and cramped developments in residential gardens.

“The old rules meant the council was frequently forced to accept these developments. Even where the local decision was to say no, that would often be overturned on appeal, despite strong local opposition.

“It makes no sense for the planning system to treat a garden in the same way as a derelict factory, yet that’s what Labour’s system did.”