Angela Rayner waters down housing restrictions AGAIN in scramble to hit targets
Angela Rayner has watered down housing restrictions on new homes as Labour scrambles to hit its building targets.
The Housing Secretary vowed to build 1.5 million new houses by the end of the decade but is currently running well behind the target.
Under current guidelines, new builds must be within double the footprint of the existing building on a site and at least half of the previously undeveloped part of a plot must be left unbuilt on.
The changes mean plans to build in gardens can be bypassed where "additional development can be accommodated without harm to the overall character of the area, and taking into account the availability of infrastructure”.
Sir James Cleverly, the shadow Housing Secretary, told the Telegraph: "Labour have doubled down on their all-out assault on the green belt, and now they are returning to garden grabbing.
"Blocks of flats are set to be crammed into the suburbs, eating up green space and fundamentally altering the character of local communities."
It is the second set of restrictions to be eased by Ms Rayner, who previously made radical changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Protections of Britain's protected green belt were eased to give a default yes to all new housing within walking distance of a railway station.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We have made changes which recognise that in many places, there is potential for more development, to support thriving neighbourhoods, improve access to jobs and services, and make the best use of land within our towns and cities.
"Our changes will help more homes to be built where they are needed, while stopping unsuitable development. Local people will still be able to have their say, and councils must take those views into account."
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Majority of Britons say free speech has deteriorated under Labour, bombshell new poll finds
The majority of Britons believe their confidence in the Government's ability to protect free speech has deteriorated under Labour, a new poll has found.
Some 51 per cent said their confidence in the Government to protect their right to express views, even when those views disagree with the Government, had worsened over the past two years, according to polling commissioned for civil rights organisation Liberty.
Just 10 per cent of Britons believed their free speech rights had improved, the polling carried out by Deltapoll for Liberty revealed.
Liberty laid blame on the Home Office, citing travel bans for activists hoping to speak in the UK, the mass arrests of Palestine Action protesters and tougher approaches to protest laws.
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