Nearly half of all home developments that were granted planning permission between 2011 to 2019 have still not been built, according to housing charity Shelter.

Its figures count over 380,000 unbuilt properties – 40 per cent of all homes with planning consent in England – with 100,000 having been added to the backlog in 2019 alone.

Shelter says that it wants the government to use its comprehensive spending review, due for publication this autumn, to encourage more spending on social housing and to “turbo charge” construction.

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate says: “The chronic shortage of decent, genuinely affordable homes in this country is one that must be fixed. But the government’s planning reforms fundamentally misdiagnose the problem.

“The idea that the planning system is stopping homes being built is a myth. Across the country hundreds of thousands of ‘phantom homes’ sit on sites with planning permission fully approved. Rubber stamps are no replacement for direct investment in high-quality housing.

“The government must roll up its sleeves and build the homes local communities really need, now more than ever in the face of a Covid-recession. It should spend the cash its set aside for housing that much faster and start building social homes now.  The only way we are going to start building what we need is through pounds not planning.”

In early August this year, the government announced a loosening of planning system rules in England that was met with a mixed response.