Barratt chief executive David Pretty has put together a comprehensive 18-point programme of reforms, which he says are necessary for improving the planning system and boosting housing supply. Pretty said: “The government is calling for more homes, more social housing, more urban regeneration, more training, more innovation and better design. But the industry could do so much more if the consistent obstacles to building more homes were cleared away and the planning system overhauled. "There is no shortage of government commitment and awareness of what needs to be done; now we really do need the system freed up so that we can get on with the job.” Pretty’s suggestions include: * Expanding the definition of “affordable” housing, to enable housebuilders to sell homes at substantial discounts direct to key workers, first-time buyers and others who cannot afford to get on the home ownership ladder. * Increasing the government’s existing national brownfield development target from 60% to 65% to encourage more regeneration – and backing it by introducing a fast-track process for brownfield planning applications. * Strengthening protection for core greenbelt areas but releasing many of the “small, scruffy, unused fringe areas” of greenbelt for housing. Pretty has also called for …