Planners have reacted with fury after a developer proposal to reduce garden sizes was submitted for consideration by the government.

The developer, Glenveagh Properties, said it was simply trying to fit stand-alone houses into development spaces, rather than have many people living in apartments.

Glenveagh made its proposal in a report, seen by BusinessPlus.ie, that has now been submitted to Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien.

It wants the Government to loosen its regulations on garden size so that Glenveagh and other developers could cut garden size by a third, thereby giving everyone the space to live in houses rather than apartments.

A source close to the company said that its proposals would give garden space to everyone, by eliminating apartments in a development. "There are no back gardens in apartments, there are many winners with this proposal," the source said.

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However, the former chair of the Housing Agency, Conor Skehan said that developers cannot have the last word in Government policy.

An existing 22-metre setback from backdoor to backdoor dates back to the 1900s, when it was needed to allow for outdoor toilets, solid fuel storage and some vegetable growing in rear gardens, the developer states in its report.

Mr Skehan added that it was an important topic that had been raised by Glenveagh but said it was important that society be protected from the excesses of capitalism.

"We are being dragged into this by developers who benefit from this, it's not for the good of society, it's to increase yield and profitability.

"Being led by the main beneficiaries is not the way forward. Developers can't have the last word," he told Pat Kenny on Newstalk radio.

Architect Joe Kennedy told the same show that the 22-metre ruling was a Victorian idea "to do with prudish privacy", adding it was a measurement that was no longer necessary.

The size of the garden was not the most important part of a home, he said, adding the quality of design and space were more important.

"It's all to do with quality of space including shared space. It isn't a black and white comparison. Developers shouldn't dictate policy, but there is merit in the proposal and it deserves to be looked at."

Planning consultant Tom Philips said that planning standards in Ireland were very rigid.

He said Glenveagh's proposal seeks to look at what is being done elsewhere. "It's way more than shrinking garden sizes," he told the Today show on RTÉ radio.

Rory Hearne, Professor of social studies and author of the book Shock Housing, said it was important to look at the Glenveagh proposals in the context of the current housing crisis.

"People don't want to live in apartment blocks which are hugely expensive to build."

The problem with the housing policy of the last 20 years, Dr Hearne said, was that it had been driven by the interests of developers who were the only ones building houses.

He added that the proposal needed to be examined in detail and researched properly, rubbishing Glenveagh's claim that reducing garden sizes would reduce the cost of houses.

In Glenveagh's report, it says that front door separation distances - that is the distance between a home and the door of the house in front of it - is already well below 22 metres, even where the front windows are looking in on each other.

"This has not been to the detriment of quality or privacy and indeed is seen as fundamental in enhancing the public realm of a scheme," its report says.

In a statement, Glenveagh said that its proposals "are aimed at finding a way to help fix the housing crisis".