Housing targets in full: See how many new homes will be built in your area

A shake-up of planning rules will see councils given mandatory targets to deliver a total of 370,000 homes a year in England – here’s how that breaks down region by region

Building homes for people must be the “top priority” – even over nature and the environment – Keir Starmer has said, as the government set out plans to allow more building on the green belt.

A shake-up of planning rules will see councils given mandatory targets to deliver a total of 370,000 homes a year in England.

And ministers are prepared to go to war with councils who refuse to hit their targets.

The Prime Minister said local plans to reach targets were the starting point, but that the Government would “absolutely” push development through if the plans do not work.

Scroll down to see how many houses will be built in your area

Sir Keir said he wanted to “get the balance right with nature and the environment” but that “a human being wanting to have a house” has to be top priority.

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has urged local councils to “exhaust all your options” to meet the goal, including releasing the “right parts” of protected greenbelt land.

He told the BBC : “In extremis…the Government can take a local plan off a local authority that is resisting putting one in place, and we are absolutely willing to do it, if we have evidence that individual local planning authorities are refusing to comply.

“Refusing to allow their communities, their residents, to shape development in the way that best suits them in a given area – we are willing to step in if that happens.”

The updated national planning policy framework (NPPF) commits to a “brownfield first” strategy, with disused sites that have already been developed in the past prioritised for new building.

The default answer when a developer seeks to build on brownfield sites will be “yes” but the Government says these sites will not be enough for the number of homes needed.

Councils will therefore also be ordered to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets by identifying lower quality “grey belt” land that could be built on.

The framework defines the grey belt for the first time as green belt land that “does not strongly contribute to green belt purposes”.

Those purposes include limiting urban sprawl, stopping neighbouring towns merging into each other and preserving the special character of historic towns.

Mr Pennycook gave examples of grey belt sites as “disused petrol stations, abandoned car parks, but also just low-value scrub land”

“For years, we have had not enough houses being built. That means that individuals and families don’t have the security that they want,” Sir Keir said during a visit to a construction site in Cambridge.

“We are determined to break through that, to do what’s necessary.

“Of course we want to get the balance right with nature and the environment, but if it comes to a human being wanting to have a house for them and their family, that has to be the top priority.”

Housebuilding targets in full