Often 'improved' facilities involve artificial turf

In the 959 redevelopment applications considered during 2003-04, 72 fields were created and 52 lost, out of about 44,000 pitches across 21,000 sites.

Sports Minister Richard Caborn said the government was "starting to turn the tide on the playing field issue".

Campaigners were pleased but said there still needed to be more outdoor rather than indoor sports spaces.

'Not complacent'

The figures from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Sport England showed that 590 of the 959 sites involved projects that would "greatly improve" the quality of sport on offer, the department said.

Not only are we losing fewer fields to non-sporting development but we are also creating the facilities that people need to play the sport they want Sports Minister Richard Caborn

These include new sports centres, tennis courts, athletics tracks and Astroturf pitches, as well as changing rooms and floodlights.

The 52 losses (4%) were those deemed to be "detrimental to sporting provision" - 31 of them owned by local authorities and 21 private.

The number of fields had been declining since figures were first published four years ago.

Mr Caborn said: "More playing fields are being created or improved than being lost and this shows that we are starting to turn the tide on the playing field issue.

"Not only are we losing fewer fields to non-sporting development but we are also creating the facilities that people need to play the sport they want."

He added: "But we are not complacent. There is always more to do and the government is continuing to work to further improve the protection afforded to playing fields."

Outdoor-indoor balance

Regulations introduced by the government mean Sport England checks every application involving a playing field.

It objects if it feels sport will lose out.

The National Playing Fields Association, which champions the cause of recreational space, welcomed the net increase of 20 fields.

But its deputy director, Don Earley, said: "The latest statistics however mix improvements to playing fields with threats and losses, and I believe there is work to be done to redress the balance of investment back from indoor to outdoor sports facilities."

He said more than 65% of �207m of planned investment was going into indoor facilities, when pitch improvements and other outdoor facilities were badly needed.

Where school playing fields are involved, the association and the Department for Education and Skills now have rules that say any sale must be "an absolute last resort".

The proceeds must be used to improve outdoor facilities wherever possible, and new sports facilities must be for at least 10 years.

Public playing fields have to be twice as large as school fields to acquire protection under regulations.