A housing crisis could be solved by building on golf courses, Twickenham MP Vince Cable believes.

The Business Secretary made the claims at the Liberal Democrat party conference last week, stating families, particularly in Surrey, would rather have a garden outside their front door than protected greenbelt miles away from their home.

Alluding to research from the London School of Economics, which showed more of Surrey is devoted to golf courses than housing, Dr Cable said if he was in a middle-income family struggling to find a home in the county, he would ask "is a golf course sacred or are there better uses of the land?"

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to build 300,000 new homes every year if voted into power at next year’s general election.

Dr Cable said brownfield sites alone would not solve the housing shortage and said councils would be pushed to provide more properties.

Richmond is home to a number of golf courses, including Fulwell, Strawberry Hill, Richmond Park, Old Deer Park and Hampton Court Palace.

Councillor Geoffrey Samuel, deputy leader of Richmond Council, said he was concerned some golf courses in the borough would be at risk if Dr Cable’s idea came to fruition.

Coun Samuel said: "We are troubled by his suggestion that the golf courses in our borough should be turned into housing estates - golf is a large part of our community.

"We are delighted with the fact a number of the golf courses work with us and provided facilities for young people and the disadvantaged.

"Golf courses are at the heart of the community and are now under threat from Vince Cable.

"Residents and golfers can rely on us to oppose this view they should be turned in to housing."

Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, said despite the need for more homes, Dr Cable's proposals to build on green spaces was "crazy".

He said: "There are more than 250,000 plots of brownfield land available to be built on in the south-east of England alone right now, and hundreds of thousands of officially empty homes that can be forced back on to the market. That’s where the focus should be."

Dr Cable said the Conservatives were scaremongering as he did not make the comments about golf courses in the borough.

He said: "The comments I made at a fringe meeting at our party conference were specifically related to Surrey which has a bigger acreage of land given over to golf courses than to housing.

"As for building on green spaces, local residents have expressed far greater concern to me about the desire by this Conservative council to build on a much loved public open space and garden in order to provide a council tax funded, multi-million pound home for the royal row barge."

Golf England states there are 103 clubs in Surrey, with further courses in Wimbledon, Roehampton, Hounslow and Brentford.