Hundreds more new homes a year will be built in Swindon under new government plans.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner will make local housing targets mandatory again, after she unveiled an overhaul of England's planning rules to help deliver Labour's promise of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government figures show the proposed target for Swindon has been set at 1,252 new homes annually – up from the current target of 1,005 homes a year.

Councillor Kevin Small, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for finance, said: “In light of the updated guidance from central government, we are currently reviewing our current strategy for developing new housing.

“We welcome the government’s new housing targets and Swindon will happily play its part in the new housing building programme.

“We will continue to work closely with neighbouring authorities to plan appropriately for essential housing needs in the right places and with the right level of infrastructure.”

Across England, councils will now have to plan for around 370,000 homes annually, instead of the previous 305,000.

In revealing the overhaul, Ms Rayner said: "Our decisive reforms to the planning system correct the errors of the past and set us on our way to tackling the housing crisis, delivering 1.5 million homes for those who really need them."

"And something I am personally proud of, our new flexibilities for councils will boost the number of social and affordable homes, and give working families a better route to a secure home."

Across the South West, the target has shifted from 28,203 new home a year to 40,343 homes.

The reforms also make explicit that the default answer to brownfield development should be "yes" and promote housebuilding at greater densities in urban centres, like towns and cities.

However, because there is not enough brownfield land in the country to meet housing needs, the Government will allow the targeted release of so-called grey belt land, which includes disused petrol stations and car parks on parts of protected land known as the green belt.

Any green belt land released will be subject to "golden rules" to ensure the development delivers 50 per cent affordable homes with a focus on social rent and has access to green spaces and infrastructure such as schools and GP surgeries.

The method for local authorities to calculate how much land they must allocate for new housing, which relied on data from 2014, will be updated to ensure stock is boosted in every part of the country.