Despite bold pledges over the housing crisis, Michael Gove has accepted progress will not be as fast as originally planned. The levelling up secretary wants to build more homes – but only while involving local communities behind the developments, leading to some scepticism. Heather Jameson reports

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove has admitted what we perhaps all knew – that the Government’s target to build 300,000 homes a year will not be met. The failure to meet a manifesto commitment may have been what prompted previous communities’ secretary Sajid Javid who reportedly challenged Mr Gove at a recent cabinet meeting for not building homes fast enough.