Developers have a greater chance of having schemes pushed through in Watford because of the lack of required homes delivered in the borough over the last few years.

This week, senior councillors agreed to an action plan which aims to increase future housing supply.

In January this year, the results of the Government's housing delivery test showed Watford Borough Council had only met 48 per cent of its target for 2017 to 2020.

Out of the 1,873 homes required over this period, 874 were completed, which is well below the Government's 95 per cent target.

Responding to the results of the delivery test, Watford mayor Peter Taylor said: "Most residents will be astonished to learn that the government believes we should have built twice as many properties in the last few years.

"They are forcing us to produce this action plan to punish us for not meeting their housing target for Watford. A few years ago the government tripled their target for the town but the space we have is very limited."

According to council documents, a high proportion of Watford has already been developed with Watford delivering 94 per cent of its housing growth on brownfield land in the last ten years.

At just eight square miles and with a population of around 100,000, Watford is one of the most densely populated boroughs in the country.

But despite failing to get anywhere near its housing targets in recent times, there has been no shortage of homes granted permission by the council in recent years.

Between April 2017 and April 2020, 3,780 units in Watford were granted permission with a further 2,111 over the latest financial year. Some of the applications include buildings of between 22 and 28 storeys.

Watford Observer: A 24-storey tower under construction in Ascot RoadA 24-storey tower under construction in Ascot Road

As of the end of July this year, there were 4,900 residential units with planning permission across 174 schemes in Watford, with permission for 810 of those units across 31 schemes running out next year.

Between August 2020 and July, permission for 932 homes across 31 schemes expired.

In order to develop the action plan, the council says it has engaged with the housebuilding industry to "determine what the main barriers are to housing delivery in Watford and what appropriate actions the Council could take to support housing delivery in the town".

It was found that some of the largest barriers include a lack of sites available, site constraints, changing market conditions and high existing land values. But one of the main reasons the delivery test failed was because homes granted permission weren't built.

Because the council delivered less than 75 per cent of its target, a "presumption in favour of sustainable development" now applies. The council says this makes it "more difficult to resist inappropriate housing development applications" with developers given a greater chance of winning appeals.

The action plan approved by the council's Cabinet on Monday to boost the delivery of homes in Watford includes adopting a new Local Plan and promoting areas of development.

The local plan, which identifies sites to meet housing targets of 793 per year up until 2036, has shown development will be supported in areas such as around Watford Junction and in and around the retail parks near the River Colne.

Despite the size of some of the buildings approved by the council in Watford, the council says it does not see tall buildings as an "answer to housing delivery issues exclusively" as they tend to be "expensive to build, subject to a lot of complex planning and design considerations, be contentious for the general public and often less viable than other forms of development".

The council says it will also work to boost the number of affordable homes in the borough. Under current planning policies, 35 per cent of a scheme over ten homes should be designated affordable but developers have bypassed this in Watford by agreeing to pay sums of money to be spent on affordable housing elsewhere.

It says it will work with developers to deliver "appropriate levels" of affordable housing alongside market housing schemes,with the council continuing to work with Watford Community Housing to complete social housing projects across the borough.

There are nine social housing schemes which should be completed before March 2022 delivering a total of 56 dwellings towards the housing figures.

Mr Taylor added: "As much as some people would like to pretend that government housing targets can be ignored, we have no choice but to produce this action plan because the government want us to build much more quickly than we are.

"I will continue to fight the unrealistic and unfair housing target the government has set for Watford."