Angela Rayner sets new housing targets in planning overhaul

Elsewhere, the government has given more details of its plan to make it easier to build on certain parts of the green belt, protected land that surrounds bigger cities.

It has said councils should look to reclassify as “grey belt” those areas that were previously developed, or make only a “limited contribution” towards goals such as protecting countryside and the special character of historic towns.

Officials said they could not say what proportion of the green belt, which covers 12% of England’s land area, would be reclassified, with the final amount depending on the choices made by local authorities.

Development in grey belt areas will be subject to new “golden rules”, including on the proportion of new homes that are classified as affordable.

Labour also plans to ditch a requirement for new homes to be beautiful, arguing it was too vague and had been interpreted differently in different areas.

The Greens called the planning shake-up a “distraction from Labour’s failure to step up and fund the real answers to the housing crisis, including large-scale investment in truly affordable, sustainable council housing.”