The end of the private back garden? AIBU to think this is a crap idea?

[2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney]

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/architects-hope-to-tear-down-garden-fences-of-englands-future-homes/ar-BB18huJd

Reported in the Guardian this morning. The shortlist of developers drawn up to attempt solve our housing crisis by new design
includes the idea of communal back gardens that have to be booked in advance to use privately!

Oh yes I can see that going down really well on Mumsnet future AIBU

"My next door neighbour overstayed their time"
"I hate sharing and want peace and quiet"
"Cynthia has just repotted all my begonias"
"Can I put a swing up in the communal garden, the neighbours are complaining"

AIBU to think that this is just a really crap idea?

The problem with not enough housing is partly people with more than one house that use it as a business. Oh and those who have property investments in the UK (mostly in London) but live in a different country and they are left empty... Also all the empty properties where the owner may have died or the chain of ownership isn't clear. Tackle all this first and then see how much housing we need. Communal gardens would only work well with similarly minded people and not those like my neighbours. I'm the only one that hasn't paved over their front garden as nature is important

If you have a bbq and the next person on the rota doesn't eat meat for religious reasons, will they object to the residual aroma or bits of meat thrown down for the dog.
It will never happen.

I think this is a lousy idea really.
It probably wouldn't be looked after properly and resemble an eyesore after a few months with weeds etc. I think most people that have gardens of their own value their privacy and space, and long may it continue.

Does the property snobbery of people on Mumsnet know no bounds.

Wait until you hear about the current living conditions of people who lost their homes in the Grenfell Tower fire!

FWIW I live in a house on an estate with communal gardens and it is a million times better than having a postage stamp of concrete which was the alternative within our price bracket. We communally own the garden with other residents and pay gardeners and property managers to run it.

Yes there are silly arguments and people not pulling their weight, but I was incredibly grateful in lockdown (where we socially distanced) that we had gone for this option.

In theory a good idea. In reality a disaster. Who actually maintains the shared garden... it is idealistic to think that people would do a good job together even though some groups might. Would there then be maintenance charges. Would it be freehold or leasehold? What about pets. Nightmare.

@PrincessBuggerPants same for us. On paper, we (also) have our own gardens, but they are balcony sized. The communal ones were a godsend.
All the estates around here have this setup (all 50s and 60s build), and it works well.
If you want a massive private garden, you need to pay a lot more (100k anybody?). While I wait for these 100k to magically appear, I’ll enjoy our communal garden.

I think it rarely works unless managed... the landlord below me has let tenants have a dog .they have direct access ...it poos all over his kids have free reign and no one else uses it now.... to sort it we have to spend money and use lawyers.....it’s bloody depressing....

People have gardens so they have a little bit of privacy. You would have selfish people using it all the time and putting other, less selfish people, off using the garden, anyway it would never take off as I’m sure many people may not like a shared garden, particularly if people have dogs....

Would be a nightmare to sell, too, as are most places with shared access.

Would never work, there will be a smoker or a weed user, or someone has a BBQ whilst another person's washing is out, or some twat plays their fucking music, or has a party (I love how in the UK people think if they tell their neighbours they're going to be rude it's okay to be so) and it goes to shit.

Not to mention there would need to be rules on the hours of the garden. On MN you're not supposed to use it after 7pm because someone's toddler needs total silence to sleep.

@Newdaynewname1 ours is also 60s and we have our own front garden/balcony sized beds if you want to shove some tomatoes or roses in.

Also, people tend to behave themselves better in a communal garden as people can see them! The noise and anti-social behaviour comes from the private gardens we back on to.

Children really do all play nicely together in our communal gardens.

The fact that so many Mumsnetters seem to have never encountered this set up is incredibly telling...

Honestly think this is a terrible idea, ok for those who arent really bothered about outdoor space and dont want the upkeep of a garden but for those who like gardening and grow some of their own food, not so good. I love sitting in my garden on hot evenings, love sitting watching the bees on my flowers and my tomatoes, strawberries growing

Architects only have to have the ideas - they don't need to be feasible. Some architects building a library suggested that, as it was all glass, it would be great to have the books shelved so that they made a rainbow effect from the outside - the librarian had to point out that the users on the inside then wouldn't be able to see what the books were and be able to borrow them.

Awful idea.

“One of the designs suggests four homes built around a courtyard garden that the residents can also book via an app for private use.”

It wouldn’t be private though would it? Every house would look directly out into the garden.
Now I’m not one for naked sunbathing or anything but I like my private garden. We’re lucky to not be overlooked at all.

@Newdaynewname1
@PrincessBuggerPants

Yeah I love mine too. We all get on really well! The noise etc is surely the same as if you have separate fenced areas. We share out veg and herbs a lot. the kids learn to play nicely (mainly). I get to pet dogs without having to look after them :)

The babysitting options are brilliantly easy

@Badbadbunny Sure, i think the proposals are probably just looking at ways to give everyone less space and that sucks. but I'm a fan of communal gardens in principle

@PrincessBuggerPants same experience for us, although our private bit is behind the houses. We pay a bit for a gardener (£20 per month, as its shared between 36 parties - 18 houses and 18 flats). Some have dogs, but its no issue. Same for all the estates around (usually a smaller number of sharers).
There is the occasional trouble maker (1 in 6 years), but they get booted out quite promptly. The flats don’t allow dogs anyway, plus the park isn’t fenced in. Being caught letting your dog poop or littering leads to a hefty bill for rubbish removal (and somebody will video it if it happens repeatedly).

As with anything, you would get people who put time and effort into making it beautiful, and those who don’t understand that time and effort has been spent.

Hippee that doesn’t surprise me.
There was an architect - I can’t remember their name - who designed an art gallery with curved walls so it was impossible to hang pictures.

I wonder where all these people with their massive not overlooked gardens live. Certainly not in densely populated areas (or if they do, they are properly rich)

Boundaries are the key to harmony - in all senses.

Why are architects such monumental fools? No wonder Prince Charles lambasted them. I am with him.

The booking idea sounds terrible but other than that, there's hardly anything in there that doesn't exist already. Where I grew up had a communal garden and that seemed to work fine. I was under the impression that they were quite common but apparently not on here.

It's bad enough having neighbours. Fuck sharing my garden.

Goodness, my neighbour currently complains that I ‘open the back door more often than the previous owner’.
Imagine if DDog and DD were free to run across her airspace.

@PrincessBuggerPants

Does the property snobbery of people on Mumsnet know no bounds.

Wait until you hear about the current living conditions of people who lost their homes in the Grenfell Tower fire!

FWIW I live in a house on an estate with communal gardens and it is a million times better than having a postage stamp of concrete which was the alternative within our price bracket. We communally own the garden with other residents and pay gardeners and property managers to run it.

Yes there are silly arguments and people not pulling their weight, but I was incredibly grateful in lockdown (where we socially distanced) that we had gone for this option.

Are your communal gardens (I note the plural) small and only available to you if you book? I'm going to hazard a guess not, given the other information you provided.

Our only requirements for our next home purchase are to be in one of two villages for school catchment purposes, and to have a private garden. That is literally it. Have had years of communal gardens; never, ever again.

Does the property snobbery of people on Mumsnet know no bounds.

Don't be daft. How many threads do we have about horrendous living conditions, anti-social neighbours, posters in tears because of the noise and behaviour of shit neighbours?

Yes, many of us HAVE lived in flats because we couldn't afford anything better, some of us even had flat or house share because of the same.

It doesn't mean anyone would recommend the concept of house share for families

The concept of communal back garden is a nasty way for developers to make more money against the well being of those who will actually live there.

Communal gardens for flats (especially converted flat!) makes sense as there's only a certain amount of land around an existing building.

NEW built squeezed onto parcels too small is a recipe for disaster.