MINISTERS want to throw out height limits to erect a new generation of tall houses and flats in the biggest planning overhaul in 70 years.

Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid wants a major relaxation of strict practices that stop new homes being built higher than their surrounding buildings.

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In another controversial move, the Cabinet minister also wants to review rules on light that stop building if neighbouring homes are cast in shadow.

The moves are part of “a very radical” new planning blueprint being drawn up to solve Britain’s spiralling housing crisis “once and for all”, The Sun has been told.

Under it, councils will be ordered to come up with new five year plans for housing quotas in areas where people want to live - or face Whitehall enforcing building sites on them.

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The fresh drive – to be made public in two weeks’ time in a government white paper- will mean tackling laws and practices that have not been changed since 1947 when decision making powers were delegated down to local councils.

But it could also spark a major fight between the government and Tory backbenchers who represent leafy countryside seats.

A senior government source told The Sun: “Some of our planning rules have been around since almost the end of World War Two.

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“The world has changed significantly since then, so it’s high time they were updated to reflect the modern world.

“How we use the space available is key, and that means building upwards.

“Measures that we’ve taken so far to build more are useful but they have been too small, so we are going to crack the planning system once and for all.”

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Britain’s towns and cities have some of the lowest density ratios in the world.

Across England, there are currently 42 dwellings per hectare.

But new housing being built has shrunk to just 31 dwellings per hectare over the last five years, worsening the chronic squeeze on supply.

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Campaigners blame developers for the slump as spread-out executive houses on town outskirts makes them the biggest profits.

Instead of the high rise blocks of the 1960s and 1970s, ministers want to encourage more tenement blocks and three and four storey terraced houses.

PM Theresa May is studying Mr Javid’s proposals now and is expected to sign them off after next week’s Autumn Statement.

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The latest house building figure this week revealed just 189,000 were built last year.
The number of new homes is up 11% from the previous 12 months, but will still leave the government woefully short of its election promise to build one million more by 2020.

Campaign groups last night welcomed plans to boost housing density, but warned units must not be too small.

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Campaign to Protect Rural England’s Matt Thomson said: “Increasing the density of residential development is not only an important way to reduce the pressure for development in the countryside, but can also create more vibrant and liveable neighbourhoods.

“Higher density doesn’t have to mean high rise blocks of pokey flats, poor quality design, or other symptoms of ‘town cramming’.

“Some of the most attractive urban environments were built at a higher density than the average built today, including places like Wandsworth and Ilford.”

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Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb added: “Our housing shortage is nearing tipping point with over 120,000 children facing homelessness this Christmas.

“Although we welcome any moves by the government to build more homes, our own Living Home Standard shows that a lack of space is already a concern among many.

“It’s vital that as well as being genuinely affordable, the homes are not rabbit hutches, but places for families to live and thrive in.”