A radical shake up of the planning system could lead to more than 1,600 homes being built in Wokingham every year.

The government is running an eight-week public consultation (ends October 1) on the proposals, describing them as “the most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War”.

They include plans to build 300,000 homes a year in England and a new  formula that determines how many homes should be built in each area of the country.

Wokingham Borough Council says this will result in over 1,600 homes being built in Wokingham each year and councillors are “outraged”.

Councillor John Halsall, leader of the council, said: “This has come completely out of the blue and is horribly unfair to Wokingham Borough.

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“We have put up with government-imposed housing targets for too long.

“I have gone to Westminster, as have previous council leaders, to ask for a fairer allocation on housing and got nothing back.

“Last year we asked our residents if they thought the then government imposed housing target of 800 new homes per year was too many and had an overwhelming response – 47,000 residents told us 800 was too many.

“We thought that would strengthen our hand, but now the government is proposing to more than double that.”

Cllr Halsall is now calling on people across Wokingham to object to the plans and sign his petition, which opposes this funding formula and condemns “government-imposed numbers which take no account of local needs”.

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According to the council, nearly 10,000 homes have been built in Wokingham since 2006. That equates to around 700 a year.

The government claims the new formula aims to make it “easier to build homes where they are most needed”.

As part of the shake up, the government also wants to extend the Permission in Principle consent scheme for major developments, so landowners and developers have a faster route to planning permission without having to draw up detailed plans first.

It also wants to bring in rules that require developers to build discounted homes for first-time buyers and temporarily lift the affordable housing threshold, so developers building less than 40 or 50 homes are not required to make expensive contributions.