Councils 'will get bribes to back housebuilding'

Opponents accused the Government of blackmailing councils by dangling a £500million reward in front of those who help solve the growing housing crisis.

Gordon Brown is desperate to build three million extra homes by 2020, partly to cope with an influx of immigrants.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper will today package the hugely controversial housing incentive scheme as a reward for councils which "raise their game".

They will share grants totalling £500million in return for pinpointing land for housing, including green fields and former garden space.

But councils which refuse to concrete over valued land, or are slow to build new homes, will be denied any of the extra cash.

The incentives are enough to ensure that councils that do not allow unpopular development will see council tax bills rising more than those which take the money.

For those councils under pressure from their voters to curb council tax rises, the lure of the extra cash for paving over areas of greenery may well be irresistible.

Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: "Labour ministers are attempting to blackmail town halls into accepting unpopular developments against the wishes of local residents.

"People effectively face the threat of higher council tax if they don't bow to the Government's targets.

"We need to build more homes but we need to do it in a sustainable way and without trampling over the wishes of local people."

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed the grants - to be introduced next year - saying they would reward councils which respond best to "local needs".

The number of homes built each year stands at around 160,000. Critics say developments on the scale planned will pile too great a burden on to water supplies, schools, hospitals and overcrowded transport.

In the past, incentives offered to town halls by Whitehall have been related only to the efficiency and speed of the planning process.

Miss Cooper is also expected to announce today that the Government has pinpointed 200 disused public sector sites across the country, which could be used for housing, to add to the 550 sites already identified by the Prime Minister.