London’s gardens are becoming less green, losing 2.5 Hyde Parks-worth per year | London Wildlife Trust

Green space in London’s gardens is being lost at a rate equivalent to two and a half Hyde Parks per year, according to a new study by the London Wildlife Trust.

Gardens in the capital have become markedly less green in recent years, with plots shrinking and an increasing number of people opting to pave over their lawns.

The study suggested that between 2019 and 2021, 22,000 hectares (around 57 per cent) of London’s garden land was covered in vegetation.

However, this had already fallen from 25,000 hectares in 1998-99, a 12 per cent drop.

In Greater London there are now 37,900 hectares of private garden land – that’s 24 per cent of the capital – and it includes some 3.8m individual plots, the London Wildlife Trust’s London: Garden City? study suggested.

Recent trends for decking and paved areas in gardens saw the level of hard surfaces in London’s gardens increase by more than a quarter over the 100 months of the study.

Hard surfaces went up from 9,900 hectares in 1998-99 to 13,000 in 2019-08, a 26 per cent increase. Garden buildings (sheds, glass houses etc) increased in cover by 55 per cent (1,000 hectares) over the same period.

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