The government is set to allow construction on an area of greenbelt cumulatively larger than Surrey to meet Labour’s target of getting 1.5million homes built by 2029.

The housing secretary, Angela Rayner, will later today unveil a major planning overhaul that will allow construction on more of the buffer around major towns and cities.

She is expected to widen the definition of what is classed ‘low quality Green Belt’ or ‘Grey Belt’ as part of broader plans to encourage councils to ‘play their part’ to meet housing need by reaching a new ambitious combined target of 370,000 homes a year.

This comes less than one week after the Prime Minister announced the ‘Plan for Change’ that sets our milestone of delivering 1.5 million new homes over five years.

The government says it is turbocharging growth with new, mandatory targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding across the country. The planning overhaul is set to tackle the chronic housing crisis once and for all and will mean hard graft at work will be rewarded with security at home.

Under new planning rules, updated via the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF):

+ Councils will be told to play their part to meet housing need, with new immediate mandatory housing targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding and deliver growth across the country putting more money in working people’s pockets.

+ Areas with the highest unaffordability for housing and greatest potential for growth will see housebuilding targets increase, while stronger action will ensure councils adopt up-to-date local plans or develop new plans that work for their communities.

+ A new common-sense approach will be introduced to the greenbelt. While remaining committed to a brownfield first approach, the updated NPPF will require councils to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets, identifying and prioritising lower quality ‘grey belt’ land.

+ Any development on greenbelt must meet strict requirements, via the new ‘golden rules’, which require developers to provide the necessary infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing.

+ To further tackle the housing crisis, councils and developers will also need to give greater consideration to social rent when building new homes and local leaders have greater powers to build genuinely affordable homes for those who need them most.

Prime minister Keir Starmer said: “For far too long, working people graft hard but are denied the security of owning their own home. I know how important it is – our pebble dash semi meant everything to our family growing up. But with a generation of young people whose dream of homeownership feels like a distant reality, and record levels of homelessness, there’s no shying away from the housing crisis we have inherited.

“We owe it to those working families to take urgent action, and that is what this government is doing. Our Plan for Change will put builders not blockers first, overhaul the broken planning system and put roofs over the heads of working families and drive the growth that will put more money in people’s pockets.

“We’re taking immediate action to make the dream of homeownership a reality through delivering 1.5 million homes by the next parliament and rebuilding Britain to deliver for working people.”

Under the current planning framework just under one third of local authorities have adopted a local plan within the last five years and the number of homes granted planning permission had also been allowed to fall to its lowest level in a decade.

In a bid to encourage change, it has been conformed that following consultation, areas must commit to timetables for new plans within 12 weeks the updated NPPF or ministers will not hesitate to use their existing suite of intervention powers to ensure plans are put in place.

Deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, Angela Rayner, commented: “From day one I have been open and honest about the scale of the housing crisis we have inherited. This mission-led government will not shy away from taking the bold and decisive action needed to fix it for good.

“We cannot shirk responsibility and leave over a million families on housing waiting lists and a generation locked out of home ownership. Our Plan for Change means overhauling planning to make the dream of a secure home a reality for working people.

“Today’s landmark overhaul will sweep away last year’s damaging changes and shake-up a broken planning system which caves into the blockers and obstructs the builders.

“I will not hesitate to do what it takes to build 1.5 million new homes over five years and deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

”We must all do our bit and we must all do more. We expect every local area to adopt a plan to meet their housing need. The question is where the homes and local services people expect are built, not whether they are built at all.”

The government insists that Brownfield land must continue to be the first port of call for any new development and the default answer when asked to build on brownfield should always be ‘yes’. The government is also exploring further action to support and expedite the development of brownfield land in urban areas through ‘brownfield passports’ with more details to be set out next year.

To support councils to update their local plans and review their current greenbelt land, areas will receive an additional £100m of cash next year that can be used to hire more staff and consultants as well as more resources to carry out technical studies and site assessments. This is on top of bolstering local resources with increased planning fees to cover costs and an additional 300 planning officers, making sure they have the staff and capacity needed to approve homes for local people.

The new growth focused NPPF also includes requirements to ensure homes are high-quality and well-designed without stalling growth. The government has also committed to updating the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code in Spring next year.

Responding to the changes announced to the NPPF by MHCLG, Chris Curtis, co-chair of the Labour Growth Group, said: “This Christmas Day over 150,000 children will wake up in temporary accommodation. This is unconscionable, and it will happen in large part due to a broken planning system which for too long has been incapable of providing homes for people who need them.

“The greatest gift our government can give those children is a relentless determination to deliver the homes they need. The new planning rules announced today are a historic step towards doing just that and leaving the failures of the past behind.”

Lola McEvoy, co-chair of the Labour Growth Group, added: “The government is absolutely right to place the rapid introduction of new local plans at the heart of the changes announced today.

“As the deputy prime minister has said we must all do more and that includes local councils delivering updated plans with ambitious targets, as well as MPs standing resolutely behind the builders even in the face of pressure.

“The announcement of £100m of new funding for local planning officers demonstrates a crucial commitment on an issue which we have heard time and again is a blocker on growth. We must now build on these crucial steps with further action to sweep away a broken system which has held Britain back for far too long.”