The government has rowed back on proposals to require all projects on grey belt sites to deliver 50% affordable housing as it published the final version of its long-awaited revisions to national planning policy.

In a significant victory for the development sector, government said it would instead require speculative applications approved on the newly defined “grey belt” sites on former green belt land to deliver 15% more affordable homes than in the local housing policy – up to a cap of 50%.

The change in tack came as the government set out its finalised plans to speed up the planning system in an effort to reach its target of building 1.5m homes across this parliament.