The new legislation is designed to protect neighbours from having to suffer large garden buildings hard up against their fence. However, the new rules may have some strange repercussions. Outside of Conservation Area and AONB you can build a series of ugly, 20 sq metre, 2.5m tall, flat roofed bunkers in your garden, without needing planning permission! InsideOut Buildings, who design and build environmentally responsible garden offices and granny annexes, are expecting to see 85% of clients needing planning permission against a previous average of 75%.

The new legislation is designed to protect neighbours from having to suffer large garden buildings hard up against their fence. However, the new rules may have some strange repercussions. Outside of Conservation Area and AONB you can build a series of ugly, 20 sq metre, 2.5m tall, flat roofed bunkers in your garden, without needing planning permission! InsideOut Buildings, who design and build environmentally responsible garden offices and granny annexes, are expecting to see 85% of clients needing planning permission against a previous average of 75%.

So what do the new regulations mean for people wanting to build a garden annexe?

The fundamental point is that if you want to install a garden office or even a shed more than 2.5m/8ft 4in tall without planning permission, it must be 2 metres or more from any boundary. This will be difficult to acheive in a small,urban garden. “Check the criteria below,” recommends Lynn. “If your building ticks one or more of the points, you’ll need planning permission. But if you’re proposing a good quality, well-designed building in a sensible, non-intrusive position, you’re very likely to get that permission.”

From October 2008 you’ll need planning permission:

If your garden building will sit forward of the principal elevation of your house, facing onto - and visible from - a highway. In other words, if it’s in the front garden! If the height of the eaves - where the gutters are - is more than 2.5m, with an overall height of more than 4m for dual pitched roofs and more than 3m for mono-pitched roofs.

If it is higher than 2.5m at the highest point and within 2m of a boundary. All buildings more than 2.5m tall must be at least 2m from the boundary. To avoid planning permission, they’d also have to comply with point 2. If it covers more than 30 square metres of floor space. If it covers more than 20 square metres in a garden that’s smaller than 100 square metres.

• In National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, if your building covers more than 10 square metres and it is more than 20m from your house.

• In designated areas, if your garden building is at the side of your house.

• If it is within the boundaries of a listed building.

• You will still need planning permission in Conservation areas.

• If you want decking more than 30mm above level ground.

• But are the new rules causing concern? No - quite the opposite.

InsideOut Buildings Director Lynn Fotheringham explains why. “A planning officer in Oxford recently revealed that because the new rules allow you to build an ugly, flat-roofed bunker less than 2.5m tall, anywhere in your garden without planning permission, a beautiful, eco-friendly wooden building that needs planning permission would be viewed very positively by planners.”

So far, Inside Out Buildings has a 100% planning permission success rate. Why? According to InsideOut architect Gordon Smith, it’s because InsideOut works with planning departments and their local requirements. “We also have a detailed understanding of applying for planning permission.” he explained. ”Interpreting the planning regulations correctly is half the battle! Because our garden buildings are sensitively designed and built with subtle, low impact materials, they fit well with what today’s planning legislation aims to achieve.”

RHS granted planning permission for ‘green’ learning centre at RHS Garden Harlow Carr

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has been granted planning permission to build the country’s first fully ‘green’ learning centre at RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate. Through this development, the UK’s leading gardening charity will be giving children across the region a greater opportunity to learn about plants and the environment. The building itself will be no ordinary development. Designed to be one of the ‘greenest’ buildings in the UK, it will have a zero carbon footprint. The centre will include three practical teaching areas for children and adults, a library and exhibition space open to all garden visitors, and an inspirational teaching garden.

Jill Cherry, Director of Gardens and Estates at the RHS, said, “We are very excited about this project at Harlow Carr and we are delighted to have been given the go ahead to begin construction. We believe the learning centre will inspire people of all ages to understand gardening and grow a greener future. Everything we teach in the learning centre will incorporate themes of sustainability and good environmental practice, so children will become more in touch with the world around them.”

The learning centre will increase Harlow Carr’s capacity for free school visits more than threefold, enabling the Garden to welcome more than 10,000 schoolchildren a year. It will also provide a base for the RHS to expand its outreach programmes locally and in the wider region, to engage with hard-to-reach communities and schools. The project will also allow for a broader programme of educational workshops for all gardeners and visitors to Harlow Carr.



The site is being cleared in November and construction will begin in January 2009. The learning centre is part of the RHS’ new masterplans to develop each of its four Gardens across the country. RHS Garden Harlow Carr will be open as usual during the centre’s construction and visitors will get the chance to view plans and keep up with developments throughout the build.

Seeds not always sow reliable says Which? Gardening

Gardeners should not be put off if their plants didn’t flourish this summer – it could be the seeds rather than their green fingers that are at fault, says a new report from Which? Gardening. Its annual seed report has revealed that, once again, a number of leading flower and vegetable seed brands are still not up to scratch. In one packet of pepper seeds, all nine seeds were dead, while a packet of parsnip seeds contained 80 per cent dead seed.

Which? Gardening found DT Brown and Marshalls to be the worst performers. 57 per cent of Marshalls’ delphinium seeds and 80 per cent of its parsnip seeds were found to be unviable. DT Brown scored badly for the second year running, with only 62 per cent of seed producing healthy seedlings in Which? Gardening tests.

Unwins seeds performed well in the vegetable germination trials, but, similar to last year performed less well in the flower seed trials - 50 per cent of its delphinium seeds were found to be dead. Johnsons also produced a mixed bag of results – an impressive 87 per cent of its flower seeds produced healthy seedlings, but only 63 per cent of its vegetable seeds did so.

Plants of Distinction was awarded Overall Best Buy with 85 per cent of its seed producing healthy plants.  Johnsons and Chiltern Seeds were awarded Best Buys for flower seeds. Eight seed companies were awarded Best Buys for vegetable seeds, including Edwin Tucker and Sons. This is a vast improvement on last year when only 47 per cent of Edwin Tucker and Sons vegetable seed produced healthy plants, and 99 per cent of its delphinium “Pacific Giant” seeds were found to be dead.

Ceri Thomas, editor of Which? Gardening, says:

“It is so disheartening to spend time, effort and money planting seeds, only for them to come to nothing. This year’s tests have shown that once again, some seeds suppliers are reliable and sell good seeds, while others are letting gardeners down with abysmal seed quality. Some of the poor performers from last year have vastly improved this time round. We hope that once again our research will lead suppliers to review their quality control measures so that they only offer seeds that gardeners can rely on.”

Make life easy for yourself or a loved one this Christmas with one – or more – of these Top Ten Garden Gadgets and make gardening dreams come true. In an on-line survey run by Mower-Magic.co.uk, responders were asked to list their “dream gifts” for this coming Christmas.

• Robomow

• Accurain

• Sheen Flame Gun

• Nesting Box Camera

• Wolf Fruit Picker

• Rotosieve

• Sawmate Cordless Pruner

• Powermec Turf Cutter

• Electric Barrow Cart

• Galvanised Tin Bath

Top of the list, not unexpectedly, is the Robomow robotic mower. Easy to install, simple to programme, this state-of-the-art high-tech garden mower does the job for you – while you just relax and enjoy life! With prices starting from just £599 and a range to suit all pockets and lawn sizes, there’s every reason for a Robomow to have its place under the Christmas tree. And once the lawn’s been mown, it’s time to water the plants so save time – and water – by having an Accurain garden watering system installed. Like the Robomow, the Accurain can be programmed in advance, irrigating the flowers when you want and where you want.

... can be a nightmare, especially around garden paths. The Sheen Professional Flame Gun X300, with its 20000F blast, is the most effective organic weedkiller around. Just one blast to kill the weed followed by a second blast a few days later to incinerate the dead top growth and seeds leaves you with a potash-rich residue. You’ve seen it on Nature Watch – the tiny CCTV Nesting Box Camera that brings images from the bird box to your TV screens, and now you can have one of your own. The camera, equipment and ready-to-build nest box are all provided in this kit that is sure to please all bird watchers.

... you can’t reach those elusive apples or plums on the tree and don’t like climbing ladders? The Wolf Fruit Picker pulls the fruit off the tree and drops them into the handy little carry-bag. A telescopic handle to reach higher branches is available. The garden sieve is making a comeback! The steel Rotosieve is useful for sieving soil, home-made compost and cold bonfire ash. It comes with a 5-year guarantee. Just turn the handle – job done.

... for pruning small branches that a pair of secateurs can’t handle, the Sawmate Cordless Chainsaw Pole Pruner is powerful, light and easy to use. Using a push-button starter, there’s no need for fuel or trailing leads. Not only that, a 4m extension pole is included in the price. If your loved one has designs on cutting up the lawn, then he or she needs the Powermec Turf Cutter PM55HSP. This machine has appeared regularly on BBC TV’s Ground Force programme. A cushioned, height adjustable handle makes cutting turf for your own garden design much easier.

... have you tipped over a heavy wheelbarrow and scattered its contents across the garden? The Electric Barrow Cart – exclusive to Mower-Magic – is a great invention that requires no balancing or pushing. No emissions, minimal noise and economic to run, the barrow cart is an eco-friendly addition to the garden and has an accelerator and decelerator for going up and down slopes and ramps.

Hand-made to order, the electric barrow cart will take some wrapping but will be a present sure to please. It’s not strictly a gadget or even a tool but the Mower-Magic hand-made to order Galvanised Tin Bath will bring back memories of days gone by. Relive that golden age of bathing in front of the fire – bath the family dog outside –or fill it with flowers and shrubs and turn this novelty present into your garden’s focal point.

... on the Robomow, Sheen Flame Gun, Rotosieve, Sawmate Cordless Pruner, Powermec Turf Cutter, Electric Barrow Cart and the Galvanised Tin Bath, visit: www.mower-magic.co.uk For the Accurain, visit: www.accurain.com, the Nesting Box Camera, visit: www.handykam.com and for the Wolf Fruit Picker, visit: www.philipmorris.uk.com.

Merry Christmas!