RESIDENTS in Poole say they are losing privacy, safety and money to the government's policy of building on back gardens.

But far from backing down on the idea, the government is about to release a new draft report specifically sanctioning "garden grabbing" for the first time.

Behind five homes on Dorchester Road in Oakdale, 12 houses are being built on land that used to be garden.

On the other side of the development, the residents of Enfield Crescent are having to put up with a dozen new homes just metres from their back door.

Mark Rice said: "Because of the slope of the land, these new families will be looking straight down into our kitchen and back yard.

"The designs have made no effort to keep our privacy.

"It's a disgrace and there's nothing we can do."

Neighbour John Winne came home last week to find his entire hedge had been removed.

"When they've finished, it will be like living in a moat, with a huge castle of houses all round us."

The Borough of Poole blocked the planning application three times but a government inspector over-ruled them.

Last week, Conservative MPs in Bournemouth and Poole called on gardens to be labelled as greenfield sites to stop the area disappearing under concrete.

But the Echo has seen new planning guidelines, due to be formalised later this year, that state: "The conversion and redevelopment of existing housing and gardens should be developed as part of the wider strategy for individual neighbourhoods."

This is the first time gardens have been mentioned in guidelines.

Authorities are also called on to see the "positive contribution of intensification".

Tobias Ellwood, Tory MP for Bournemouth East, is putting together a motion with other local MPs, against garden-grabbing.

"I don't know why the South West has to take the brunt of house-building.," he said.

"Of course we need sustainable communities, but local authorities should be in charge.

"It's totally undemocratic to let an organisation based in Exeter make our decisions for us."

A spokesman for Pro Vision, agents for the developers that put forward the application, said: "The designs were in keeping with the government's policy of building on previously-developed land.

"The current system allows each application to be judged on its merits and that's what happened here."