Michael Gove has just wrapped up his planning reform speech, vowing to build Britain’s “Silicon Valley” in Cambridge with 250,000 new homes and tear up red tape to tackle the UK’s housing shortage. Although not before Tory backbencher Anthony Browne tweeted he would do everything to stop “nonsense plans to impose mass housebuilding” on his own patch, obviously…

Gove confirmed the government would push ahead with plans to relax planning rules in city centres, allowing empty retail outlets to be converted into flats and houses with less pointless bureaucracy in the way:

“We are unequivocally, unapologetically and intensively concentrating our biggest efforts in the hearts of our cities,” Mr Gove said in a speech. Because that’s the right thing to do economically, environmentally, and culturally. [We will] use all of the levers that we have to promote urban regeneration rather than swallowing up virgin land… We will enable brownfield development rather than greenbelt erosion.”

He assured he was still committed to building 300,000 homes a year – without specifying which year – although someone should let CCHQ know before the next by-election leaflets are posted out. The PM himself also weighed in this morning, claiming it’s important to build “in the right way“, and “in the right places with the support of local communities and not concreting over the countryside“. Wouldn’t want to upset the NIMBYs too much…