What If New Build Gardens Were Designed for Wildlife Too?

New housing is an unavoidable part of a growing population. But the question isn't simply how many homes we build — it is also how we build them, and what kind of places we create around them.

That's why, at Chew Gardens, we support the principles behind the recent petition calling for nature-led standards to become a much more integral part of new housing developments in the UK.

The petition, started by gardener and ecological landscape advocate Paul Foster of Allium Gardeners, calls for horticulture, ecology and landscape management to be considered much earlier in the development process, rather than being something added towards the end.

For us, this makes a lot of sense.

Gardens aren't an afterthought.

Too often, landscaping can feel like the final layer of a development.

The houses are designed. The roads go in. Services are installed. Construction is finished. Then, at the end, someone is asked to make the remaining spaces look green.

But a garden or landscape isn't simply decoration.

It is a living system.

The soil, trees, hedges, planting, drainage, wildlife habitats and open spaces all interact. Decisions made during construction can determine whether those systems have a chance to thrive for decades — or whether they struggle from the beginning.

A mature tree that is removed cannot simply be replaced with a small tree and considered equivalent.

Compacted or damaged soil cannot necessarily be fixed by putting a few inches of topsoil over the top.

A narrow strip of turf surrounded by fences isn't the same thing as a functioning green space.

And a newly planted tree is only the beginning of a tree's life in a development, not the end of the landscaping project.

Designing with nature rather than around it.

This is one of the principles that underpins our own approach to gardening.

We believe gardens can be beautiful, useful spaces for people while also providing considerably more value for wildlife and the wider environment.

That doesn't necessarily mean creating a wild garden.

It can mean choosing plants that provide food and habitat, retaining existing trees and hedges, allowing some areas to become more natural, creating ponds, improving soil, using permeable surfaces, incorporating deadwood and thinking carefully about how water moves through a site.

It means asking:

What is already here, and how can we work with it?

Rather than automatically starting again.

This approach can be particularly important on new developments, where enormous changes are often being made to a site in a relatively short period of time.

The importance of trees.

Trees are a particularly good example.

A development might include a landscaping plan showing hundreds of new trees, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has preserved or created a healthy tree population.

An existing mature tree provides things that a newly planted tree simply cannot replicate immediately: structure, shade, carbon storage, habitat, nesting opportunities and a much larger ecological footprint.

Where existing trees can safely be retained, they should be treated as valuable assets rather than obstacles.

And when new trees are planted, they need the conditions to become mature trees.

That means appropriate species, adequate rooting space, healthy soil, sensible planting and — crucially — aftercare.

Planting a tree is easy compared with successfully establishing one for the next 50 years.

Soil matters too.

Soil is another part of the landscape that is easy to overlook.

Construction machinery can cause severe compaction. Topsoil can be stripped, moved and stockpiled. Natural drainage can be altered.

Yet soil is fundamental to almost everything we want from a landscape.

Healthy soil supports plants, stores carbon, holds water and provides habitat for an enormous range of organisms.

For a sustainable garden, we would much rather improve and work with existing soil wherever possible than simply treat it as something to be removed and replaced.

The same principle should apply at a much larger scale.

Wildlife shouldn't be confined to the margins.

New developments can also provide significant opportunities for wildlife if they are designed properly.

Hedges, trees, ponds, long grass, meadow areas, planting and connected green spaces can create a network through which wildlife can move.

Even relatively small interventions can make a difference when they are connected rather than isolated.

Bird and bat boxes, swift bricks, ponds and pollinator-friendly planting aren't substitutes for proper habitat — but they can form part of a wider ecological approach.

And importantly, these things need to be designed into developments from the beginning.

It's much harder to create good ecological infrastructure once every available space has already been allocated to buildings, roads, parking and infrastructure.

What happens after the developers leave?

This is perhaps one of the most important questions.

A landscape isn't finished when the development is completed.

Trees need establishing.

Hedges need managing.

Ponds need looking after.

Meadow areas need appropriate management.

New planting needs watering and maintaining until established.

And residents need to understand how these spaces are intended to work.

Long-term management should therefore be considered alongside the initial design.

This is something we see in individual gardens too. 

A garden isn't a static picture — it changes every year.

Good garden development is about establishing something that can gradually become better, richer and more resilient over time.

We think new housing should be approached in much the same way.

It's good for people too.

There is also a human argument here.

Well-designed green spaces aren't only beneficial for wildlife.

People need trees, planting, gardens and access to nature too.

A street with mature trees, good planting and functioning green spaces feels very different from one dominated by hard surfaces and small areas of token landscaping.

Children can interact with nature.

Residents can garden.

Birds and insects can thrive.

Trees can provide shade.

Rainwater can be slowed and absorbed.

And communities can develop a stronger relationship with the landscape around them.

Good ecological design doesn't have to mean sacrificing attractive or practical places to live.

In many cases, it can make them better.

A more joined-up approach.

Ultimately, what we like about the principles behind this petition is that it asks us to think about landscape earlier.

Rather than treating ecology, horticulture and landscape management as separate considerations that happen at the end of a development, they can become part of the design from the outset.

Architects, planners, ecologists, horticulturalists, landscape designers and contractors all have different expertise.

Bringing those perspectives together earlier could help create developments that work better for both people and nature.

Supporting better gardens, not simply more gardens

At Chew Gardens, our aim is to create and develop gardens that become more sustainable, biodiverse and enjoyable over time.

We don't believe every garden needs to look wild, and we don't think there is one formula for an ecological garden.

But we do believe that nature should be considered from the beginning rather than added as an afterthought.

That's why we support the principles behind this petition.

If we're going to build new homes, let's also build better places to live — with healthy soil, established trees, wildlife habitat, functioning green spaces and landscapes designed to improve with age.

You can read more about the petition and consider signing it here: https://www.change.org/p/make-sustainable-development-practices-mandatory-in-the-uk 

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Chew Gardens provides sustainable gardening, garden development and ecological garden design across the Chew Valley and Somerset.