Tough Government housing targets for south west Hertfordshire must be rethought, MPs have concluded.

As the world-wide economic downturn continues to hit the housing market the group of MPs has said the country may not need the three million new homes planned for construction by 2021.

Of those, south west Hertfordshire will have to find space for more than 25,000 new homes.

The East of England Plan said Watford has been told it must find space for 5,200 new homes by 2021, while Three Rivers will have to build 4,000, Dacorum 12,000 and Hertsmere 5,000.

However, the report, by the House of Commons’ environmental audit committee, said the Government should re-evalute unrealistic targets, which put unnecessary pressure on local councils.

The report read: “We are concerned that by continuing to impose high national house-building targets and regional plans during a market downturn, the effect of government policy is to make it impossible for local authorities to prevent planning permission being granted for development on land that is not currently needed and that would not otherwise be granted.

It said that government should ensures this does not happen by “urgently” revising its targets and discovering if they are “realistic and viable”.

Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, urged the government to give councils more powers to turn down unwanted developments.

Currently council planning committees cannot turn down applications that do not provide any car parking spaces or reject plans that include flats instead of houses.

The Mayor in Watford it was not a case of numbers but the quality and location of developments.

“Watford had always be able to meet its housing targets because people want to build in Watford.

“It is not whether we meet the targets that is the problem it is having the power to turn down less acceptable housing developments that is our issue.”

She added: “I think we should be able to say ‘on that site we think it should be houses and we want ten houses rather than 50 flats and at the moment we don’t have that degree of control.”