WYRE Forest is exceeding government targets when it comes to house building, analysis by the BBC has revealed.

The BBC’s Shared Data Unit has compared government targets for each local authority area in the UK with the number of homes being built on average each year in those areas – and Wyre Forest is surpassing its target, an investigation has shown.

According to the figures – the government’s assessment of the number of new homes needed in the district was 246 but analysis by the BBC has revealed that, on average, around 287 homes have been created each year over the last ten years.

The statistics, which cover new builds and property conversions, show Wyre Forest is exceeding the government target by 17 per cent.

But according to the BBC the creation of new homes in the district still has not recovered to pre-crash levels and locally the number of new properties needed to meet demand has been determined to be around 300 per year.

Council bosses said the Government is currently reviewing the standardised methodology for calculating housing requirements and was due to confirm a new figure for Wyre Forest in April.

But this has been put back until later this year, resulting in a delay on the authority starting the next phase of consultation on its draft Local Plan, which will shape development in the district until 2034.

Councillor Ian Hardiman, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, Health and Wellbeing said: “Since April 2016 we have been working from the Objectively Assessed Housing Need framework which suggests 300 new houses should be built each year.

“Before this, our previous target set out in the Local Plan of 2006 was around 200 new houses per year.

“It is important that we meet our target as there are severe consequences for under delivery.

“We are currently considering the Government’s Standardised Methodology, to inform the decision making for the next stage of our Local Plan.”