The Tories have said they would continue to support regeneration schemes, including the housing market renewal pathfinder initiative, should they win the next election

Speaking at the RIBA this week, shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said a Tory government would “kickstart street-level initiatives” to build new houses.

However, he added that it would scrap the housing and density targets introduced by former deputy prime minister John Prescott, attacking the current administration’s “Stalinist” approach to housebuilding.

Shapps said that, in the face of intransigence to development at a local level, the Tories would introduce incentives to encourage local organisations to build, including allowing them to keep the increases in council tax and business rates.

The commitment came despite the fact shadow community minister, Caroline Spelman, wrote to Tory MPs and local authorities advising them to delay controversial developments in advance of a new local government and housing bill set to be introduced in the first year of a Conservative government.

The housing market renewal pathfinder was introduced in 2004 to stimulate housebuilding in deprived parts of the North and Midlands.

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