A town with a housing emergency has announced it has fallen short of its annual homes building target.

Crawley Borough Council said it is the first time this has happened since 2015.

In 2022/23 only 190 homes were completed in the town instead of the targeted 340. Only 78 "affordable" homes were built - 57 per cent of the annual target.

The council’s Authority Monitoring Report, which details annual performance against planning policies, shows delivery of new housing has dropped.

The single biggest factor according to the council has been the imposition of water neutrality by Natural England because of the impact of water extraction on the environment. Water neutrality requires that developments do not increase the rate of water abstraction for drinking water supplies above existing levels.

This is one of the reasons why the council unanimously declared a housing emergency in February. It wrote to the government in March in relation to the housing emergency but said it had received no response.