A third of back gardens paved

MORE than half of Britain’s front garden space and a third of back garden space is paved over, reducing the potential to help with flooding, wildlife and storing carbon, experts have said.

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New Al-assisted mapping from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) also indicates 7.5 million square metres of domestic gardens are covered in artificial lawns.

The RHS's new State Of Gardening report also suggests the extent of Britain’s love affair with gardening - and a certain reticence about claiming to be a “gardener” - and highlights disparities in the amount of green space available to people.

And it highlights the value of gardening - contributing some £38 billion to the economy and boosting health and well-being, jobs, wildlife and carbon storage, as well as bringing people together in community gardens.

In light of the findings, the RHS is calling for a guaranteed “space to grow” in all housing and urban planning, with high-quality gardens a key part of not only the 1.5 million new homes pledged by the Government, but retrofitted into existing housing and communities.

The experts are also urging households to consider robust planting and permeable paving for front gardens, councils to plant a diverse mix of trees, and developers to design gardens that capture and store water to help green spaces and homes cope with the greater extremes of climate change.