
The government is abandoning its controversial plans for a new algorithm which would have dramatically increased housebuilding in the South of England. They had announced in the summer that there would be a new system under which each local authority would be given a new target for the number of new homes to be built in its area and told to designate land for development. This led to protests from Tory MPs as well as from conservation groups. The formula would have led to a great deal of new housing being concentrated in the south east with the number in the Cotswolds being more than doubled. For example in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire the target under the old system was for 487 new houses per year to be built while under the new method the number required would have been 1209, a jump of 148%.
Councils will now revert to the totals drawn up in 2017. Instead London and 19 other urban area will be required to provide for up to 35% more housing than previously planned for, with a view to meeting the government's target of 300,000 new homes a year.
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