FORMER Prime Minister Theresa May has condemned an “ill conceived” planning shake up that could lead to more than 1,600 homes being built in Wokingham each year.

The MP for Maidenhead hit out at the government’s proposed reforms during a speech in the House of Commons on October 8.

The shake up, which aims to ensure 300,000 homes can be built in England each year, includes plans for a new formula that determines how many homes should be built in each area of the country.

There are also plans to allow developers to build up to 40 or 50 homes without providing affordable housing and extend Permission in Principle, so house builders have a faster way of obtaining planning permission.

READ MORE: Housing minister to visit Wokingham and discuss plans for 1,600 homes a year

Mrs May said: “The problem with these proposals and the problem with this algorithm on housing numbers is it doesn’t guarantee a single extra home being built.

“Far from ‘levelling up’, it forces more investment into London and the south.

“This is a mechanistic approach and it is ill conceived.”

Mrs May said the areas like Wokingham, which have met their housing targets, are being punished and the areas which have not built enough homes are being “rewarded with lower target numbers”.

The former Prime Minister said the shake up will lead to a 21 per cent increase in Windsor and Maidenhead’s housing target but that is “less significant than the increase faced in the part of my constituency that is under Wokingham Borough Council”.

She said: “Wokingham Borough Council, over the last three years, has seen the delivery of homes over and above their target.

“But their target of 789 homes per year is to be more than doubled to 1,635 homes per year.”

She told the House of Commons that the planning system does need to be reformed so “we can see the right number of homes built in the right places”.

But added: “We won’t do that by removing local democracy, cutting the number of affordable homes that will be built and building over rural areas.

“That is exactly what these reforms will lead to.

“We do need to build more homes, but we won’t do that by forcing local authorities to grant more planning permissions to developers so that they can build more homes to bring the price down, because developers simply won’t do it.”

READ MORE: The early warning signs that mean you could have Covid-19

During the debate, Mrs May was backed several Tory MPs, including her former cabinet colleagues Jeremy Hunt, Chris Grayling and Damian Green.

The government ran an eight-week public consultation on the proposed reforms and it ended on October 1.

In a statement, the Ministry of Housing said: “We are overhauling the country’s outdated planning system to deliver the high-quality, sustainable homes communities need and it is right to be clear about the homes an area needs.

“Our proposals will increase the supply of land available for new homes where it is needed to address affordability pressures, and support economic growth and the renewal of our towns and cities.

“Local community involvement is at the centre of the proposals being put forward.

“Communities will be consulted from the very beginning when local plans are developed and, because the process will be made more accessible, they will be able to help shape plans the way they know is best for their area.”