New homes should be built with “rain gardens” to prevent future flooding, the Wildlife Trusts has said.

The national organisation believes the small depressions which can accommodate rainwater runoff, as well as permeable drives and connected waterways, could reduce the likelihood of damage for millions of householders.

Responding to the Government’s pledge to build at least 300,000 homes a year for the next four years, the Trusts also called for wildflower road verges and wildlife-friendly green roofs in new developments.

The Wildlife Trusts said the current focus on numbers of new homes - 1.5 million over five years - should be matched by a "visionary" approach on where and how to build them.

Government house-building targets mean around 36 square miles will be given over to new housing developments annually, an area larger than Brighton and Hove, the Trusts said.

They want to see developments located in areas already served by infrastructure to avoid destroying wild places and designed to protect existing woods, wetlands, hedgerows and meadows, while creating new areas and corridors for wildlife.

The Trusts said this does not necessarily entail prioritising urban brownfield sites over greenfield land, as farmland sites could provide an opportunity to restore land which has become inhospitable to wildlife, while some brownfield sites are nature-rich.