Recent research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has found that housebuilders miss targets for affordable homes in rural locations by 18 houses a day, with a separate report by the think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) discovering that 6,270 rural households became homeless in 2016 (this being a small fraction of the wider 40 per cent rise in rough sleeping since 2010).

Both parties rightly track the trend back to shortages in affordable homes. And somewhat inevitably, CPRE places the majority of blame on developers, who, it says, have councils ‘over a barrel’ when it comes to the viability of developments.

Viability has become a much more prominent issue in recent years due to the lack of suitable, sustainable sites coming forward. When sites do become available, land prices are pushed upward by the number of developers bidding. Inevitably the end product needs to generate a greater profit to recoup costs. Therefore, in part CPRE isn’t wrong.

The broader issue however concerns a lack of available, rural land, the constraints of the Green Belt and the associated unwillingness of some rural authorities to consider allocating some Green Belt land (even if not fit for purpose) for development. Long-term, strategic thinking and more gutsy, substantial action than has been seen by this Government and preceding governments is now required.

Yesterday the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid announced a ‘top-to-bottom’ review of the problems facing the social housing sector. This is to be welcomed, however to address the underlying and worsening issue of a lack of suitable development sites a detailed review of the Green Belt itself is long overdue (more opportunities in rural areas will have a positive impact on the land value and opportunities for brownfield sites, particularly in places such as London). Outdated restrictions are hindering development, impacting the potential of our rural communities.

This Government needs to be brave enough to cast aside decade-old ideology and commit to reviewing (not abolishing) Green Belt land.