Last week Nick Boles set out the Conservative position on self-build homes, which is set to become adopted policy prior to next year’s General Election. It would require local authorities to accommodate a statutory right for local people to build their own home.

In a written ministerial statement published yesterday, Planning Minister Nick Boles has introduced a new suite of online guidance to elucidate on sections of generic policy contained within the National Planning Policy Framework. Within his statement, Mr Boles has set out a series of headline changes that will be introduced by the new guidance in bid to strengthen Government policy in the run up to the upcoming general election.

When Planning Minister Nick Boles introduced legislation in May last year to speed up office-to-residential conversions he expected to boost housing supply and spur town centre regeneration. Yet one year on the minister is far from satisfied with progress in some parts of the country.

It is no secret that planning and in particular, national housing provision is a front runner in claiming top spot on the Government's agenda leading up to 2015. It is however a tricky issue for the Coalition and the Conservative Party. On one hand, delivering new homes is central to economic growth - on the other, new development seems to rile the general public wherever it happens.