Street votes on planning rules ‘will not increase affordable housing’

Charity says mini-referendums to approve bigger extensions will make homes less affordable

Mini-referendums that allow homeowners to loosen planning rules and build bigger and taller extensions risk doing nothing to increase the supply of affordable housing, campaigners have said.

Street votes" are set to be included in the levelling up and regeneration bill as part of what the housing secretary, Michael Gove, has described as a way to boost democratic involvement in homebuilding.