District councillor Nick Bennett said it was wrong Hunt Habitats was able to apply to build 10 houses in back gardens between Southwell Road West and Clifton Grove without agreement of all the landowners.

One retired couple own part of the land the company wants to build on and have said they will not sell their garden — claiming the stress of the situation is making them ill.

And Coun Bennett told Chad he thought it was wrong that planning law allowed people to put in applications on land they did not own, while he also believes the plans would destroy wildlife habitats.

'Disgraceful'

"I think it is disgraceful that you can apply for planning permission on somebody else's land," he said. "These are older people and it has frightened them to death."

Householders objecting to the plans have collected a petition with more than 50 signatures and have now set up the Group Against Garden-Grabbing Development (GAGGD) to object to all similar developments.

And the elderly residents who live at the property told Chad they simply want the developer to 'leave them alone'.

They have asked Chad not to be named, but a woman living there said: "They are trying to take our land off us. Who wants to go down the garden and see a lot of houses? We wouldn't have any privacy.

"There would be no view at all. Some of them are going to be three storeys high. It has been stressful."

And her husband said: "We want them to leave us alone. To me it is hassle. It is not their property — it is ours. It has to be stopped."

But Matt Richardson, land director at Hunt Habitats, told Chad the company would continue to try to negotiate with the couple and would respect their wishes if they did not want to sell their land.

He said the company already owned 90 per cent of the proposed development land but if the couple would not sell up, they would build a smaller development of four or five houses.

"As a company, we decided it was time to talk to the planners," said Mr Richardson. "They wouldn't talk to us unless we spent money putting an application in.

"We are protecting our interests on the 90 per cent of land that we own. The planning policies do allow companies like ourselves to put forward planning applications on portions of land that we don't own.

"Whether we agree with that, we are just protecting out interests in getting a planning agreement in principle. A lot of companies up and down the country go for planning on land they don't own."

Anyone concerned about plans to develop on garden land can email gaggd2008@yahoo.co.uk.