Government interventions have made housing targets, which were already looking unrealistic with the slowdown in new builds, even more difficult, according to the independent Housing Oversight Committee headed by Cable.

Cable was leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019, and member of parliament for Twickenham for 10 years.

The committee, sponsored by the Family Building Society, says the viability of many proposed developments is under threat.

This is due to the new build slowdown, the Building Safety Levy due in October this year, the lack of skilled construction workers and planning expertise, the committee said.

The committee, which includes the chief executive of the House Builders Federation, Neil Jefferson, Vicky Price, chief economist of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, and chair of the Social Care Foundation Damien Green, also expressed frustration at the lack of social housing.

Following its latest meeting members commented that, despite recognition of the extreme pressure on social housing, there is little sign of revived local authority activity in social housing or local councils having greater capacity.

Cable said: “The government is looking like its own worst enemy by trying to make building easier with one hand but making it more difficult one the other. It’s no good trying to speed up planning approvals while making it more expensive to build at the same time.

“Local government reorganisation will only make it worse as councils amalgamate resources leading to even fewer planning officers employed than now. With new build forming only one per cent of the housing stock at most, policies encouraging improving existing properties and downsizing are essential otherwise reaching the 1.5 million new homes target will be extremely difficult.”

The Committee spelt out the barriers to achieving the government’s housebuilding target at its recent meeting.

These are:

• New build slowdown and lack of affordable homes
• Building Safety Levy due October 2026 threatens new build viability
• New high rise safety rules threaten new build and refurbishment
• Lack of skills capacity in some areas including planning officers causing long delays
• Local Government reorganisation may lead to decisions being postponed and fewer planning officers being employed
• Cost of planning – Europe is much cheaper – leading to lack of innovation and planning
• Government targets concentrate on new build leading to lengthy delays between application and decision