Britain's gardens are under increasing threat of being grabbed and covered in concrete. In neighbourhoods across the country, planning rules drawn up by the Labour Party are forcing the demolition of homes with gardens, to be replaced with ugly blocks of flats or 'high-density' buildings. Gardens are not protected as 'green space', but are treated as 'brownfield land' – just like an old industrial site.

Local residents and their local councils are increasingly powerless to prevent the over-development of their neighbourhoods, and infill of green spaces, with local roads being unable to cope from the extra traffic and parking. But worse could be to come:

• New planning rules being drawn up by Whitehall bureaucrats will impose more intensive 'density targets' on new developments, cramming more building into local communities.
• Taxpayers' money is being used to bankroll studies into how to increase garden grabbing, with plans for gardens over 30 metres (100 feet) to be seized. Laws passed under John Prescott make it easier for the state to purchase land compulsorily for 'social' purposes.
• A new 'land use' database is being developed of every garden in the country, by making extensive use of aerial and satellite photography. Taxpayers are footing the bill for these 'spies in the sky', which will help town hall or Whitehall bureaucrats pick out the gardens to grab.
• Government council tax inspectors are eyeing up attractive gardens or home improvements in order to levy higher council tax bills in the forthcoming council tax revaluation. These inspectors have powers to fine householders £500 if they are refused entry into people's homes and gardens. Northern Ireland is being used as the testing ground for these new taxes from 2007.

A path to a better Britain

David Cameron's modern Conservative Party wants to help families and young people get on the housing ladder, whilst protecting the environment. We will:

• Protect gardens, by changing planning rules to give stronger protection to green spaces and maintain the character of local neighbourhoods.
• Ensure that new homes are made more eco-friendly, and remove Whitehall rules that are stopping new homes being built with sufficient parking and garden space.
• Give local communities, via their elected local councillors, a stronger say on where new homes are built, and abolish unelected regional assemblies.
• Cancel Whitehall plans for a council tax revaluation, abolish inspectors' powers of entry, and stop new taxes being levied on home improvements and gardens.
• Help more people get onto the first rung of the housing ladder by extending support for shared ownership schemes and new flexible forms of home ownership.

Tell Labour to stop their Garden Grab by signing the petition