A BACKLOG of new homes is in the pipeline, town hall chiefs say, adding that the Government’s planning “freefor- all” is not needed.

Local government leaders criticised ministers’ vows to relax regulations and strip obstructive councils of their powers to decide applications, by revealing 400,000 planned homes have not yet been completed.

They include 15,435 homes in the pipeline in the North- East and North Yorkshire. Of those, 6,229 have planning permission, but work has not started.

In County Durham, work is yet to start on 1,301 homes that have been approved, with large numbers in Newcastle (1,006), Stockton (871), Sunderland (843) and Redcar and Cleveland (667).

The number of unstarted homes is much smaller in North Yorkshire, in Hambleton (70), Richmondshire (23), Harrogate (66) and York (38).

The Local Government Association (LGA) said the backlog should “lay to rest the myth” that a cumbersome, outdated planning system must be changed.

Sir Merrick Cockell, the LGA’s Conservative chairman, said: “Even if planning departments did not receive another new home application for the next three years, there are sufficient approved developments ready to go to last until 2016, at the current rate of construction.”

Sir Merrick instead urged ministers to relax the restrictions on council borrowing to pay for new homes and to bring unusable properties back into use.

David Cameron revealed a planning shake-up to: 􀁥 Allow some single-storey extensions, including conservatories, without planning permission, for a limited period; 􀁥 Relax the requirement on developers to provide a proportion of affordable homes in any development; 􀁥 Invest £300m of Government money to provide affordable homes; 􀁥 Provide £10bn to underwrite the construction of new homes; 􀁥 And remove planning powers from councils that ministers believe are guilty of poor or slow decision-making.

Labour described the measure as “a bombshell that threatens local decision-making on planning decisions”.

Housebuilders gave the package a guarded welcome, saying there was a lack of demand for houses and a shortage of affordable mortgages.