Michael Gove has indicated that he is preparing to rip up controversial housing targets that have triggered a backlash from Tory backbench MPs and grassroots supporters.

       The Housing Secretary said that he is looking at how “housing need” is calculated, amid fears it is based on out-of-date assumptions.

       In September, more than 60 Tory MPs signed a letter to Mr Gove and the Prime Minister asking that the upcoming Planning Bill be given pre-legislative scrutiny, so it can attract the widest possible support.

       Backbenchers, led by Bob Seely and Theresa Villiers, have been warning about the impact of large scale housing targets on communities where there is not enough infrastructure or land to cope.

       The news comes after Boris Johnson signalled an about-turn on the Government's planning reforms, saying that "beautiful" homes should in future only be built "on brownfield sites in places where homes make sense".

       Mr Gove told the housing, communities and local government select committee: "We want to be in a position where people accept and welcome new development.

       "In making a calculation about housing need overall, one of the things that I want to do is to look at how the numbers are generated in the first place.

       "Some of the assumptions are probably out of date and some of the ways that those numbers are deployed by a planning inspector can be done in a more sophisticated way."

       He added that communities should be able to push back against large scale housing targets near to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and green belt land.

       Mr Gove stressed that the Government was sticking with its plan for 300,000 new homes by the middle of this decade.

       Cladding: why should leaseholders have to pay?

       Separately, Mr Gove also said that leaseholders in buildings with Grenfell-style unsafe cladding should not have to pay at all.

       Mr Gove said a requirement for leaseholders to take out loans to pay for dangerous cladding to be replaced on their buildings could be scrapped.

       Mr Gove told MPs that he hoped to bring new proposals forward in time for Christmas.

       He added: "I'm still unhappy with the principle of leaseholders having to pay at all, no matter how effective a scheme might be in capping their costs or not hitting them too hard at any one time. My question is, why do they have to pay at all?"