HUNDREDS of extra new homes could be built in Worcestershire after the Government published a new planning blueprint.

Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern Hills planners are already drafting a proposal which would see 20,000 new homes built by 2030. But under the Government’s new proposals, councils could be asked to further boost the number of homes built in the short term – over five years – by a fifth.

It means Worcester City Council could have another 100 homes imposed on it.

The city council, Wychavon District Council and Malvern District Council will debate the proposals set out in the draft National Planning Policy Framework before formally responding in October.

But the draft has caused consternation in the county’s planning offices because when the coalition came to power it swept aside the old Labour Government-imposed long-term house building targets of 24,500 homes, saying such “top-down” planning targets had failed.

The draft plan says that councils’ short-term housing supply “should include an additional allowance of at least 20 per cent to ensure choice and competition in the market for land.”

In recent months the Government has announced incentives such as the new homes bonus, paying councils to grant house-building plans.

So the proposed new 20 per cent target has “surprised” council planning officers, amid concern it puts councils back in the position of having to deliver unpopular Government-set housing targets.

In Worcestershire, the latest five-year land supply figures were thrashed out by the three councils in April 2010, and a new set of figures will replace them in autumn. But as the figures stand in Malvern where current supply is 1,225, another 245 homes would need to be built. In Wychavon, where supply is 2,570, another 514 homes would need building.

In Worcester, current supply is 500.

Councillor Robert Rowden, Worcester planning committee chairman, said he did not believe the Government was breaking an election pledge to do away with housing targets by proposing the 20 per cent tariff.

“It may be that in some extreme cases some councils are obstructive [to house-building] and the Government must step in,” he said. “But I don’t see a problem. People need to realise all these houses aren’t going to be built tomorrow.”

Coun Judy Pearce, Wychavon elected planning chief, said planning officers had been “surprised by aspects” of the draft plan.

“We cut the housing target figure by 20 per cent,” she said.

“If we’re then told the housing land supply figure goes up 20 per cent, then we’re back to where we started – although the figures won’t be exactly the same.”

MARKET ‘TOTALLY DYSFUNCTIONAL’

THE Government’s drive for new homes came as one housing group called the UK’s market “totally dysfunctional”.

David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said high house prices, stricter mortgage lending rules and higher deposits for homes had left Britain’s entire housing strategy foundering.

The Federation which represents housing associations says there are simply too few homes to meet demand, and predicted rents would start to rocket over the next decade as the lack of supply got worse.

Home ownership is heading for a decline not seen since before the sell-off of council housing stock began in the 1980s.