A FRESH bid to build an extra house in a small cul-de-sac has brought accusations of what has been dubbed ‘garden grabbing’.

Developers want to build the home on a patch of land in Harrison Drive, North Weald, but neighbours fear the loss of green space and trees, which they say would have to be felled.

Doug Dearman, 70, of nearby Wheelers Farm Gardens, said: “It’s garden grabbing and its going to reduce the green space.

“It’s an intrusion into our privacy – it’s right on our boundary fence.”

The plans were thrown out by Epping Forest District Council last year because planners said the gardens of the proposed house and the existing one next door were not big enough.

The developers have now come back with new plans that meet the minimum requirement of at least 260 square feet for each garden.

But Mr Dearman said the house was still being crammed into the square of land, which is at the end of a row of semi-detached houses.

“It would still be crowded,” he added. “In the summer, all you’re going to be able to see it with the trees cut down is a wall.”

Catherine Smith, 63, of Harrison Drive, said: “We’re just a tiny little cul-de-sac of semi-detached houses and they want to build a house on the end.

“They’re trying to use up the piece of land, just putting another house right in the corner and we don’t think there’s room. We’ll have more cars as well.”

Plans to build a house on another scrap of land in St Andrews Close at the north end of the village were lodged in April.

The proportion of homes built on former residential land, including gardens, was one of the highest in the east of England in 2009, at 43 per cent.

The Guardian has tried to contact the developers' agent.

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