Cabinet wants May to relax green-belt rules

A MAJORITY of Theresa May’s Cabinet wants the Prime Minister to relax green-belt restrictions to help tackle the housing crisis, The Sunday Telegraph has been told.

Senior ministers believe Mrs May’s policies will fail to build the homes Britain needs, and insist that she must consider more radical measures.

One claimed that a majority of the Cabinet now supports a relaxation of rules governing the green belt “if done carefully”. Addressing historic concerns about the groundswell of Con- servative opposition to such a move, the cabinet minister said as a result of the housing crisis “the mood has changed”.

It is likely to cause alarm in Downing Street, which sees the issue as toxic among traditional Tory voters. The Prime Minister is a long-time opponent of the development of green-belt land.

A poll shows residents are significantly more likely to support the construction of homes in their areas than to oppose them. Those aged between 25 and 34 are particularly likely to support new homes. The poll by ComRes for the Centre for Policy Studies think tank (CPS) found significant opposition to loosening green-belt restrictions. But 47 per cent of people said while most of the countryside around England’s towns and cities should be protected, “some ought to be used for new housing and other development”, compared with 32 per cent who disagreed with the statement.

Robert Colvile, the director of the CPS, described the findings as evidence of “remarkable transformation” under which Britain has “switched from being anti-housing to pro”.

At least four cabinet ministers are backing a plan to allow the construc- tion of new homes within half a mile of railway stations in green-belt areas.

One said more people were in favour of a limited relaxation of protections to free up land in their areas.

Last week, in a move welcomed by MPs, Mrs May announced the Government would scrap a cap on the money local authorities can borrow to build council homes. Separately, the Government announced plans to relax the rules on upward extensions of properties.

But six cabinet ministers confirmed to The Sunday Telegraph they favoured a more radical approach to tackling the crisis. Guidance states green-belt land must not be developed other than in “exceptional circumstances”.

Of 2,036 adults surveyed for the CPS, 48 per cent said they would support more homes being built in their area, compared with 33 per cent who said they would not. The survey suggested significant opposition to building on green belts remains among voters. About a third (32 per cent) said greenbelt restrictions should be loosened for the least attractive land, compared with 42 per cent who opposed the idea.

Meanwhile, 31 per cent agreed with loosening green-belt restrictions within a “limited radius” of existing in- frastructure such as railway stations, while 41 per cent disagreed.

Last week, the Campaign to Protect Rural England published an analysis stating that more than 12,350 acres were cut from England’s green belts by redrawing boundaries last year – a loss of 0.3 per cent.

A Downing Street source said: “We have a bold and ambitious target to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid 2020s. The point is not whether our policies are radical or not, but whether they work. Our policies are building more homes in the right places at a cost that people can afford.”