Councils in county and rural areas have raised fears that ‘excessive’ new housing targets could leave them at the mercy of speculative development.

According to the County Councils Network (CCN), reintroducing mandatory targets will mean a 56% rise in the number of new homes required each year across England’s county and rural regions.

It said planning authorities in these areas would have to deliver 64,769 more new homes a year, with nine in 10 councils seeing the new targets as ‘excessive’.

Councils warned that pressure on roads, health services, schools and amenities had worsened over the past five years, and 85% said they were not confident the planning system could deliver the infrastructure needed to support the increase in homes.

The CCN also raised concerns over the Government’s proposal to introduce a ‘five-year land supply’, which would require planning authorities to demonstrate each year that they had enough sites to deliver five years’ worth homes against their target.

The network said the proposal would ‘drive a bulldozer’ through housing decisions in Local Plans, with nine in 10 councils saying they would be at the mercy of speculative development in unsuitable and unpopular places.

CCN housing and planning spokesperson Richard Clewer said: ‘We recognise the need to build, but these proposals could change the face of many areas in a small space of time, whilst failing to address the core reasons for housing unaffordability.

‘The Government must re-think its proposals, including dropping the five-year land supply and instead making local plans the gold standard for housing decisions.

‘Equally as important, it must not only re-think its housing targets for county areas, but set out ways to effectively capture or deliver more funds for infrastructure.’