A TORY bid to expand housebuilding in brownfield sites is just “tinkering around the edges” of the housing crisis, builders warned today.

Levelling-up, Housing & Communities Secretary Michael Gove announced plans for every council in England to prioritise housebuilding on such land, with extra pressure set to be brought to bear on larger city councils that fail to meet housing targets.

But shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner blasted the new proposals as a “desperate and frankly laughable attempt to blame others for 14 years of Tory housing failure.”

“A threadbare announcement consisting of old, failed policies and minor tweaks to brownfield planning policy is not going to paper over [Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove’s reckless decision to capitulate to anti-housebuilding Tory backbenchers,” she said.

The proposed reforms are part of a consultation due to run until the end of March. They include a “brownfield presumption,” covering the 20 biggest towns and cities, making it easier to get permission to build on previously developed sites, Mr Gove’s department said.

The Home Builders Federation said: “While we welcome any moves to bring land through for development more quickly, this consultation announcement will do little to tackle our housing crisis.

“If we are to reverse the sharp falls in housing supply we are now seeing, we need some serious joined-up policies, not tinkering around the edges.”

Chief executive of Generation Rent Ben Twomey said: “One of the key ways to get rents under control is to build more homes, and demand is greatest in cities so we need to make the most of brownfield land. That means making sure we’re building flats where possible and a large proportion is social housing for the people hit the hardest by the housing crisis. But brownfield is not enough: we need to look at extending cities, particularly around existing infrastructure like train stations.

“Announcing new planning rules will not fix things for renters right now. Despite five years of promises, we still face arbitrary eviction and mouldy, draughty homes. The Renters (Reform) Bill is supposed to fix this but has been held up yet again. 

“Unless the Prime Minister urgently brings back and passes the Renters (Reform) Bill, renters will face many more years of mistreatment and exploitation while we wait for new brownfield homes to be put up.”

Housing Minister Lee Rowley insisted he would not get into a “numbers game” when quizzed about the unmet Tory 2019 manifesto pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year.

He added government was now “moving forward” with its plan to outlaw no-fault evictions by the general election.