The cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee has concluded that it's unlikely Government's target of 300,000 new homes will be reached if mandatory local housing targets are dropped, in a report published today.

The report examines Government's planning reform proposals and finds that Government has failed to provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate how the policy to scrap mandatory housing targets will lead to more homebuilding in England.

Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman at the Home Builders Federation (HBF) says: "The report confirms that the Government's capitulation to the Conservative’s NIMBY wing for short term political reasons would have a devastating impact on housing supply."

Baseley adds: "The planning system has to be robust and ensure that Local Authorities are abiding by their responsibilities and planning for the homes their communities need. The proposed weakening of housing targets has already seen 58 Local Authorities pause or withdraw their housing plans, throwing the whole house building process into chaos."

Baseley concludes: "The anti-development approach of ministers could see housing supply halve, which would have devastating social implications, cut GDP by £20bn and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs."

HBF's latest Housing Pipeline report, showing the early impact of Government's proposed reform, was published last month.