Ben Woolman, Director at Woolbro Group, said:

“While scrapping the Government’s 300,000-homes-a-year target may well appease anti-development constituents in Tory heartlands today, this latest U-turn is unlikely to resonate well with voters in the future.

“Alongside rising building costs and the fast-approaching end of the Help to Buy scheme, Britain’s disastrous planning system means the Tories’ emphasis on home ownership for young, first-time buyers is becoming a pipe dream.

“With house prices still reaching record-highs every month, it is plain to see action is urgently needed to cool Britain’s out-of-control property market.

“Yet, despite the main obstacle to new homes being delivered in this country being the UK’s over politicised planning system, the Government has chosen to inject even more politics into the equation by enabling residents to veto local plans.

“The Government knows full well that it is near impossible to keep absolutely everyone happy when building new homes. It therefore makes little sense to hand over even more power to vocal minorities that are dead set against any and all new development in their neighbourhoods.

“Planning and housebuilding in Britain should be depoliticised once and for all. This is easily achievable via the creation of a new, independent body of planning experts who can set housing targets and review planning applications objectively and without bias.”