A 280-home scheme in Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, takes the brunt of the planning, with a further 61 homes at the former Sandvik HQ in Halesowen, Dudley, and 30 new homes in the village of Crowle, Worcestershire (pictured).

Ben Leather, managing director of Spitfire Homes, said gaining planning permission had been an extremely difficult and lengthy process.

As a small to medium-sized housebuilder, we struggle with the current planning system on a daily basis and this is felt across the industry, he said.

It took nearly 12 months for reserved matters consent to be granted for one of the developments, even though it was an allocated site in the local plan, had outline permission and no objections had been raised by any of the statutory consultees.

Another development on a brownfield site was challenged with unreasonable design and highway requirements, while staff changes in the planning department further slowed down the process, which took more than a year.

"These are just some of the most recent examples of how the current system is preventing housebuilders from delivering the homes needed on strategic sites within acceptable timescales."

Housing Minister Micheal Gove plans to unclog the planning system so that more homes can be built on suitable locally agreed sites.

Developers will be asked to help support a higher quality, more efficient planning service by paying more, but Wright believes the changes are not enough to provide a deliverable mix of homes of all household sizes to solve England's housing crisis.

He added: We support the principle of paying higher planning fees if it means that local planning authorities use these additional fees to increase the resources of their teams rather than diverting them to other council departments.

With interest rates rising, the cost to small and medium-sized housebuilders of putting plots on hold while waiting for planning approval could hit small businesses hard, so this change is absolutely essential to promote the future success of these businesses and ensure their continued contribution to the economy.

The recent 'Save SMEs' campaign launched by the HBF is a further indication of what homebuilders similar to Spitfire Homes are thinking, with 166 businesses signing an open letter to the Government in response to the recent policy amendment which removes the requirement for mandatory Local Housing Targets and further restricts the number of planning permissions granted for new homes.

It is vital that housing targets are reinstated and that there is no reliance on the conversion of commercial and agricultural buildings to deliver more housing, as Gove advocates.

"Improving the quality and level of resources within the planning system is an important step forward in delivering much-needed new homes."