Plans to fast-track the building of hundreds of thousands of homes in town centres and cities over the next eight years will be announced today.

Developers would get much stricter targets and they would only be given access to subsidised public land if they pass customer satisfaction surveys.

In what appeared to be a clear example of news management, the Government ordered an independent commission to break the embargo of its long-awaited report on the delivery of planned house development. John Calcutt’s report, to be unveiled at Tate Britain this morning, will conclude that Gordon Brown’s ambition to build 240,000 homes a year by 2016 and create eco-towns is achievable without wrecking the green belt.

But it will be possible only if the Government lays out much stricter guidelines for property developers and councils to ensure that homes are built more speedily and land is used more efficiently, the report will say.

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