MPs on an influential watchdog have warned that inherent problems with the nation’s planning system risk jeopardising the government’s plans to ramp up housebuilding to 300,000 homes a year.

A new report from members of the Public Accounts Committee also said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) lack of a detailed implementation plan for raising new-home delivery from the current level is a serious obstacle too.

The PAC pointed to the gap between the historic average of 177,000 new homes a year delivered between 2005/06 and 2017/18 and the 300,000 target. It also said ministers had yet to give a “clear rationale” for the target, observing that MHCLG believed only 265,000 new homes a year were needed.

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