Councils claim building projects are ready to start but funding is being squeezed
Almost 400,000 homes in England have been given planning permission but have yet to be built, research suggests.
The Local Government Association (LGA) study found that little progress had been made in reducing the backlog over the past year.
The LGA called on the government to remove restrictions on how much councils could spend on housing.
The government said the figures were misleading and that it had had brought confidence back to the housing market.
Boosting growthThe LGA, which represents more than 350 councils in England, said it was time to fund the construction of new homes rather than making more changes to the planning system.
Councils said there were still thousands of "shovel-ready" sites where work had not begun because of a cap on the amount local authorities could invest in new housing.
The report, put together by building industry analysts Glenigan for the LGA, said the backlog was reduced by just 6,000 to 381,000 homes.
Housing has been identified in Whitehall as one of the quickest routes to boosting growth but the LGA said government schemes to help buyers access finance risked creating a bubble if there was not an increase in house building to match it.
Mike Jones, chairman of the LGA's environment and housing board, said: "The bumper backlog of unbuilt homes and drop in the number of planning applications submitted to councils last year is a worrying sign that the housing market is not yet on the road to long-term recovery.
"While there has been progress made, this risks being undermined if we do not find a way to ensure developers keep up with demand.
"These figures conclusively show that it is not the planning system holding back the building of much-needed new homes.
He added: "Government has an unrivalled opportunity to create jobs, provide tens of thousands of homes and help the economy without having to find a single extra penny.
"New homes are badly-needed and councils want to get on with building them. The common sense answer is for the Treasury to remove its house building block and let us get on with it."
'Unlock sites'But Housing Minister Mark Prisk said the figures failed to show the progress of construction on new developments.
He said: "In fact, Glenigan's own figures published in June this year show there were only 60,500 sites on hold and over £1bn of government investment is helping to unlock many of these stalled sites.
"We've already delivered over 330,000 new homes over the past three years and starts on new homes are up by a third compared to last year, with major developers pledging to use this momentum to increase output and get Britain building again."
Earlier this month, the government claimed the housing market had "turned a corner" - partly because of its Help to Buy scheme.
The equity loans, available to first-time buyers and on new-builds worth up to £600,000, include a government loan of up to 20% of the price of the property.
However, concerns have been voiced that such an initiative could drive up prices and create a "housing bubble".
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23790071#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
