STATISTICS suggesting suburban gardens are under threat from development have been misinterpreted, a government source told the Hillingdon Times this week.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government criticised a newspaper report which placed Hillingdon fourth on a list of "Garden Grab Hotspots".

According to official figures from the DCLG, 43 per cent of new homes in the borough are built on land previously used for housing.

"That doesn't mean they have been built on gardens," said Matthew Wells in the DCLG press office. "The term Previously used residential land' includes the building itself, the garage, any outbuildings and the drive.

"Often a big old house has been knocked down and converted into, say, five flats all within the footprint of the original house.

"On paper it looks as though one dwelling has multiplied into five but the new development may not have encroached on the garden at all."

The battle to save London gardens from disappearing under concrete has been taken up by Tory MP Greg Clark.

Although his private member's bill failed to get a second reading in the Commons because there wasn't enough time to get it through before the present session of parliament ends next week, other campaigners have taken up the fight.

The Royal Horticultural Society will be championing the cause at a forum in London on November 8.

Ian Hodgson, editor of the RHS magazine The Garden, said: "As the average house price again escalates with housing demand and the UK population continues to increase, the country is under obvious pressure to meet the housing need. But what is the long-term cost to society of building over yet more of our garden spaces?

"We have already begun to see problems, such as flooding, caused by paving over front gardens to accommodate the car."

A spokesman for Hillingdon Council said the headlines were based on a false presumption: "Since the first quarter of 2004 until today all residential development in the borough has taken place on previously developed land.

"The Government defines brownfield or previously developed land as that which is or was occupied by a permanent structure (excluding agricultural or forestry buildings) and associated fixed surface infrastructure'. The definition covers the curtilage of the previous development - and this includes gardens."