Housing target vote faces delay over Tory revolt

The government is considering delaying a vote on its housebuilding plans amid the threat of a significant backbench rebellion.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove is expected to meet Conservative MPs in an attempt to head off a brewing backlash.

Some reports suggest the government has already pulled the vote, blaming time pressures.

A government source told the BBC it "may slip" but was still expected before Christmas.

The Levelling Up Bill is a piece of flagship legislation intended to deal with regional inequalities, but also contains a number of planning measures.

An amendment signed by 47 Tory MPs would ban government-calculated housing targets from influencing planning applications.

It would also scrap the current system under which local councils have to maintain a rolling five-year stock of land for future development.

Other amendments tabled by rebels would create stricter time-limits for developers granted planning permission to start building.

One of the rebels, former minister Damian Green, said central targets "cannot recognise the different pressures in different parts of the country".

"At the moment there are around a million permissions for homes granted, but where no home has been built," he added.

However, the amendment was criticised by fellow Tory MP Simon Clarke, until recently the levelling up secretary under former prime minister Liz Truss.

Writing on Twitter, he said abandoning targets was not the right response to "inappropriate development" that had "poisoned the debate" over housing.

He added that the move would "wreck" levels of housebuilding that were "already too low".

"We need to recognise the fundamental inter-generational unfairness we will be worsening and perpetuating," he added.

"Economically and socially it would be disastrous. Politically it would be insane."

A government source said Monday's vote could be delayed, citing a congested parliamentary timetable due to votes on last week's Autumn Statement.

A No 10 spokesman said the government wanted to "work constructively to ensure we build more of the homes in the right places".

The government has a manifesto commitment to build 300,000 new homes every year in England by the mid-2020s.

Under the current system, councils are meant to plan to build a certain number of homes using a government-set formula for housing need.

These targets are then supposed to be incorporated into local plans for housebuilding drawn up by councils.

Where councils fail to keep these plans up to date, planning guidance makes it harder for them to block new developments.

Under Boris Johnson, the government had planned to create "binding" housebuilding targets as part of a new planning system based on zones.

However, the proposals were later dropped after a backlash from Conservative MPs.