Looking at the MHCLG’s Housing Delivery Test statistics for the three years to 2019 that were released last week, revealed that a third of local planning authorities are failing to meet targets.

Joseph Daniels, founder of modular developer Project Etopia, said: “A third of local planning authorities have missed their house building targets, which just shows the scale of the challenge facing planners. Of the 339 authorities rated on delivery against housing need, 35.4% of them haven’t managed to create the volume of homes required.

“The reasons for this can be complex, with availability of land, density of housing and concerns among local residents often presenting significant hurdles. These obstacles must be overcome, and a clearer planning framework could go a long way to achieving this. Delivery has generally improved in areas that have fallen behind but recent growth in building rates have not been rapid enough to remove their deficit.

“The City of London, Havering and Thanet are most off the pace, achieving 32%, 33% and 35% of their targets respectively. At the other end of the scale, some authorities are over achieving in hugely encouraging signs that in some areas the rate of building can continue to exceed expectations.

“Richmonshire has delivered nearly 10 times the overall number of homes required, while Burnley and Chester West and Chester have achieved 405% and 382% of their targets respectively.”