RUDYARD Kipling wrote a poem called The Glory of the Garden which for a while almost rivalled If for popularity.

When he lived in the village of Rottingdean, later to become part of Brighton, Kipling had a large garden attached to his house called The Elms.

He would probably be both surprised and gratified to learn that the greater part of his garden was saved from development thanks to the Rottingdean Preservation Society and that the city council ensures it is open to the public. But I have little doubt that he would be dismayed at the lack of open space in Brighton and Hove and the huge pressure being put on gardens for housing.

The great architects of Brighton such as Amon Wilds and Charles Busby designed handsome communal gardens in Hove and Kemp Town. But they provided private gardens that were little more than yards for many houses and the builders of more modest homes followed this pattern.

Packed between the sea and the Downs, Brighton was perceived to be short of space from the moment it expanded in the 19th century. This trend continued in the last century and even the grand houses of Tongdean and Withdean do not tend to have gardens to match.

The average mansion in Dyke Road Avenue generally has gardens around half the size of those attached to similar properties in leafy Surrey.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. You can find big plots in Beaconsfield Villas and the Roundhill area of Brighton. Some homes in Roedean have substantial gardens and there are a few tucked behind the Hangleton link road in Benfield Way, Portslade.

I have discovered several long gardens in Hangleton and there are so called secret gardens in both Kemp Town and New Church Road in Hove.

Some council houses have decent sized gardens. When the estates at Moulsecoomb and Whitehawk were built as homes fit for heroes after the First World War, most houses had back gardens about equal in size to an allotment plot so that tenants could grow their own vegetables. These gardens were often larger than many in the private sector.

Brighton is under huge pressure to provide more homes and there are not many brownfield sites ready for redevelopment. It is hardly surprising that developers are looking towards using parts of people’s back gardens for new homes.

Permitted development is so much denser than it used to be that a terrace of half a dozen homes can be squeezed on to a garden. Look at the lists of planning applications and you will find bids for a few homes here and there. Each new home is small but together they represent an onslaught on private gardens.

Greed rather than need is usually the driving force because of the exorbitant price of housing in Brighton and Hove.

There was a space in Hove near the seafront left vacant for years because it was so small but now a home has somehow been shoved in there.

Much damage is also being done by extensions at the backs of homes which take away precious space and by paving over front gardens to become car parks. There is an enormous development taking up most of a back garden near my home. It is totally out of scale with the neighbourhood but I am sure there are worse examples elsewhere.

Sometimes there are objections to these schemes but it is surprising how much is passed by officers rather than councillors and conforms to planning guidelines. Objectors have just lost their fight against new homes at The Droveway in Hove. But here at least there were some affordable homes being provided and an old building was being restored. Most new schemes offer nothing to the existing community.

There is a lot of wildlife in people’s gardens. Foxes and squirrels all abound together with many species of birds.

Many people make the most of the little land they have to create small but charming gardens behind their homes. You will find few plots open to the public under the National Gardens Scheme because they are too tiny.

There is a great need for housing and I can see why homes are being allowed in parts of the city that never would have been considered in the past. But I would rather see homes on open spaces close to the bypass than the destruction of mature gardens within the existing built up area.

Kipling eventually found that even his land at The Elms was too small for him as coach drivers pointed out to passengers the great man in his garden.

He moved to a house with more gardens at Bateman’s near Burwash far away from prying eyes. It is now owned by the National Trust.