House building target under threat

The government has been put under increasing pressure to scale back its target to build 3m homes by 2020 in light of environmental and economic fears.

The environmental audit committee has called on ministers to recognise that the slowing of the housing market could see greenfield sites developed if councils continue to face pressure to provide land.

Committee chairman Tim Yeo told the Guardian: “These ambitious targets were agreed in a time of economic optimism and easy credit.

“Clearly the assumptions on which the 3m target was based must be reviewed in the current climate.

“This is an opportunity for the government to place environmental concerns at the heart both of targets and planning regulations for new housing.”

The Council for the Protection of Rural England said Britain would lose an area of greenfield land the size of Birmingham by 2020 if the target is achieved.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the group has urged the target to be scaled back so that councils do not feel under pressure to release greenfield land for development.