House-building reforms paused amid Conservative MP anger

The government is pausing its controversial planning reforms in England amid an angry backlash from Conservative MPs, government sources have told the BBC.

Michael Gove - who was given the role of housing secretary on Wednesday - is said to want to address MPs' concerns.

The government has pledged to build 300,000 new homes a year.

And ministers had insisted the planning rules needed a radical shake-up to ensure more homes could be delivered.

Under their proposals, the current system - where local planning officials assess applications case-by-case - would be replaced with new rules based on zones.

Councils in England would have to classify all land in their area as "protected", for "renewal", or for "growth".

In protected areas, including areas of natural beauty, places at risk of flooding, and the green belt, development would generally remain restricted.

But councils would have to look favourably on development in "renewal" areas, whilst in "growth" zones, applications conforming to pre-agreed local plans would automatically gain initial approval.

Local residents would get a say on new 10-year plans underpinning the zones, but their ability to comment on individual applications would be curtailed.

Councils would have to plan for a share of homes from the government's 300,000 annual house building target for England.

Politicians have generally agreed on the need for more affordable homes in England.

In 2020 research conducted by the BBC found that the difference between the current housing stock and the number needed for everyone to have a decent home to live in is more than one million homes

However, the plans had been met by resistance from the government's own MPs as well as the opposition.

In a Commons debate last year, former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May described the proposals as "ill-conceived" and warned that it would "build up planning permissions, but not houses".

Another Conservative MP, Bob Seely, said the algorithm to calculate housing supplies would "hollow out our cities, urbanise our suburbs and suburbanise the countryside".

Labour has described the changes as a "developers' charter... through which they will pay back their developer donors by selling out communities".