How decking drove wildlife from the city | Letters

Patrick Barkham’s remarks on garden decking and wildlife loss (Notebook, 7 March) chime with research we undertook on the changes to garden vegetation in London over an eight-year period. We found that between 1998-99 and 2006-07, 3,000 hectares of vegetation disappeared from gardens, replaced by hard standing and decking. This loss, equivalent to 2.5 Hyde Parks each year, was compounded by the loss of 1m trees from gardens.  This period of change coincided with Ground Force’s t