Watford Borough Council has had some rare joy reducing its housing target set by the Government for the town.

But the drop does not look to be large enough to necessarily save sites that have been earmarked by the council to meet targets.

The council had been asked to deliver just under 15,000 homes over an 18 year period - 2018-2036 - but after its draft local plan underwent Government inspection, the target has been lowered to around 13,300.

A council spokesperson explained: "Firstly, between the publication of the [local] plan and the examination, the governments annual housing target for Watford reduced very slightly from 793 homes per year to 784 homes per year. The inspector agreed we should use the most up-to-date target.

"We were [also] able to get the inspector to agree the plan should be amended to 2021-2038, reducing the plan period by one year to 17 years.

"During the examination we explained to the inspector how difficult our housing targets would be to meet and how constrained Watford is in terms of the amount of land available to build new homes.

"On that basis, although normally required, we convinced the inspector there was little point in putting a 5 per cent buffer on top of targets that are already extremely difficult to meet. Removing the buffer reduced the overall target by 714 homes.

"So following the discussions that took place with the inspector during the examination our housing target is now made up of 784 homes per year over a 17 year period which gives us a revised housing target of 13,328."

Watford mayor Peter Taylor has often described Watford's housing targets as "unrealistic". There has also been growing resentment, often directed at the council, for its approval of some huge schemes in Watford, such as the 24 storey tower that is nearly complete in Ascot Road, as well of towers of 28, 24, and 22 storeys for St Albans Road.

The council's head of place shaping, Tom Dobrashian, says the new local plan includes "tougher" policy requirements for taller buildings such as they need to be of "outstanding design" and provide "significant public benefits".

He added: "This [local plan] puts the council in a stronger position to challenge proposals on a case by case basis and only accept taller buildings where it is appropriate and justified to do so."

But he warned the policy will not put an "absolute restriction" on building heights.

Mr Dobrashian added when the current local plan was adopted in 2013, housing targets for Watford were "much lower" and specific policies around building height weren't "needed".