Sir Keir Starmer’s Government must “hold its nerve” against green belt Nimby opposition to hit its goal of building more than one million new homes before the end of the current Parliament, a leading think tank has urged.

The Resolution Foundation, a left-leaning research body, has warned the Prime Minister he must if anything go further with his original plans because an initiative to re-label low-quality green belt land as a new “grey belt” is not by itself enough to get enough homes built.

Sir Keir’s Government has laid out ambitious plans to build an additional 1.5m homes across the UK during the course of this Parliament.

Camron Aref-Adib, a researcher at the think tank, said it was vital the Government does not cave in to opposition to development schemes.

“Giving local housing targets more teeth and opening up more land for development should help to boost housing supply, as long as the Government holds its nerve against local opposition,” he said.

Loss of nerve has plagued previous efforts to get Britain building, as Governments have frequently backed down in the face of attacks by so-called Nimby opponents, which stands for “Not In My Back Yard”.

The former Conservative Government ditched its own proposed planning reforms in 2021 following the Chesham and Amersham by-election, when a Tory candidate was ousted by a Liberal Democrat opponent. 

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