Housebuilding is way off target in Shropshire

It comes as Shropshire Council revealed the number of affordable homes built in its area had halved since 2008. Councillor Mal Price, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for planning, said developers could no longer afford to build lots of cheap county homes.

Between 2011 and 2012, 191 homes were built, compared to 389 built between 2008 and 2009.

Despite this, council bosses said they still aimed to deliver 9,000 affordable homes by 2026.

Before the housing crash in 2007, developers were required to provide up to half of their development as affordable housing.

But this target has since been revised down to 13 per cent.

Councillor Price said the reduction was necessary to help lessen the impact of the economic slump.

"The housebuilding industry is crucial to economic growth and recovery and Shropshire Council is proactively seeking to help mitigate the profound impact of the economic downturn on new housing development sites," he said.

Mr Price said many developers had been left with land that had halved in value – which meant they were unable to deliver their affordable housing obligations.

"The realities for a council are either leave the site undeveloped, half-built and stalled, or renegotiate with the developer. Although these renegotiations 'reduce' the number of affordable homes, the higher numbers of affordable homes originally required are unachievable and undeliverable."