green belt

Ministers had said that, if a council's housing targets ccould not be met, some protected land known as green belt would be re-labelled grey belt and thereby freed up for development.

A government spokesperson said its changes to the green belt were "just one of the ambitious housing reforms we have set out to solve the housing crisis and boost economic growth".

Since coming to power in July, the Labour government has said it wants to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years and has identified "poor quality" green belt land as possible areas of construction.

It pointed to a disused garage in Tottenham, north London, as an example of land that could not be developed because it was deemed to be on a green belt site.

In a letter to Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, chair of the Built Environment Committee Lord Moylan said the green belt had been treated as "sacrosanct" making it difficult for local authorities to build on the area, despite a high demand for more homes.