House-building targets remain

Housing minister Caroline Flint has ruled out immediate revisions to house-building targets, despite the economic downturn.

The minister told the Commons environmental audit committee: "It is premature to suggest we should revise our target for 2016 and 2020. But we are mindful of the market and realise some of our projections will need to be looked at based on the number of homes built this year, which may be lower than last year."

Bob Ledsome, a deputy director in the Department for Communities & Local Government's housing and planning group, said it was "unlikely"  the national target would shift, even if councils thought demand had changed since they made their projections.