It might seem like an unusual solution to a serious financial problem, but homeowners facing high insurance costs are being told that keeping it green could be the solution tot heir problem.

Some experts believe that climate change is taking a firm hold in Britain. This summer saw the UK hit with heavy flooding that caused millions of pounds worth of damage and some homeowners are only now beginning to return to their properties. Many people believe such extreme weather conditions are only going to become more frequent as the impact of global warming takes effect and as a result, obtaining insurance for those people living on flood plains could become increasingly difficult.

The problem is that insurance companies - understandably perhaps - are reluctant to offer insurance to properties that are of significant risk of flooding because it could result in them having to fork out huge sums of money on a regular basis in the future. while the flippant solution would be to say all properties should simply be built on hillsides and mountain tops, this is obviously not a real solution, the government is coming under increasing pressure all the time to help lower the cost of housing by building more properties and the only place that seems to be readily available for such development is on flood plains.

So it seems you could be damned (or, more specifically, not damned) if you do buy on a flood plain, and damned if you don't because you won't be able to afford anything else.

However, it seems that one environmental campaigner may have something of a solution. Sir Martin Doughty, chairman of the Natural England conservation organisation, is calling on homeowners to save their front gardens and not pave them over with concrete. He explains that maintaining a garden can help to prevent flash flooding because it provides somewhere for rainwater to drain into, unlike the hard surfaces seen at the front of many houses these days.

It may seem like an unusual solution, but it might just work, because flash flooding can cause significant damage to homes and those most at risk are likely to see their home insurance premiums soar through the roof. But by maintaining a front garden, homeowners would actually be providing themselves with an extra buffer to reduce the risk of rainwater quite literally reaching the front door.

And while many people may not think that paving over their front patch will not make a significant difference in the battle against climate change, Mr Doughty has some important facts and figures, explaining: "In London, front gardens with an area 22 times the size of Hyde Park are now paved over and lost."