LABOUR will scrap a get-out clause that lets developers dodge social-housing obligations, shadow housing secretary John Healey will announce today.

Mr Healey is to pledge that a Labour government will scrap permitted development rules for new homes.

The rules, introduced by Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2013, allow developers to bypass normal planning regulations by converting commercial spaces into housing without the consent of the local community.

They also allow developers to dodge housing requirements such as space standards, meaning that constructing a housing unit only a few feet wide in a building such as an office block could constitute a “new home” in government statistics.

Local Government Association research estimates that more than 10,000 affordable homes have been lost as a result of permitted development since 2016.

The Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors also said that permitted development has “allowed extremely poor-quality housing to be developed.”

Mr Healey said: “Conservative-permitted development rules have created a get-out clause for developers to dodge affordable homes requirements and build slum housing.

“To fix the housing crisis, we need more genuinely affordable high-quality homes.

“This Conservative housing free-for-all gives developers a free hand to build what they want but ignore what local communities need.

“Labour will give local people control over the housing that gets built in their area and ensure developers build the low-cost, high-quality homes that the country needs.”

Nick Ballard, national organiser at economic rights campaign Acorn, welcomed the announcement, telling the Star: “Everyone has the right to a decent, dignified and affordable home.

“This is something that successive Conservative governments have had no regard for as they have deliberately provided developers with loopholes allowing them to rake in astronomical profits while avoiding providing housing of the quality and affordability that is so desperately needed.

“Acorn has been campaigning against the exploitation of these loopholes for years and we welcome the news that Labour would close this one down, in addition to the pledge they have already made to stop developers using ‘viability assessments’ to dodge their social-housing commitments.”