Ministers have joined backbench Tories in a backlash against prime minister Rishi Sunak over new planning restrictions after an analysis found that the number of homes built in England may fall by a third.
The prime minister dropped mandatory targets for housebuilding and introduced an array of new planning restrictions last December. Labour has promised to reintroduce the targets.
Ministers are concerned the Conservatives do not have as solution for the “chronic” lack of new housing and have proposed changes to planning policy including enabling councils to avoid having to investigate the housing potential of green belt land around urban areas, and a focus on building new homes within towns and cities.
