The council has responded to new government plans to build more houses.

Last week the government announced its intention to build more houses, invest more in schemes such as Help to Buy and, in Wednesday's Budget announcement, a plan to get rid of some stamp duty costs.

Watford Borough Council has responded saying while they are happy with the government's intention to put more money into affordable housing, the volume of new developments proposed are too many for Watford.

Cllr Iain Sharpe, cabinet member for regeneration and development, said: "We have told government in the strongest terms that they have got it wrong when it comes to Watford. We know they are frustrated some areas are not providing the homes local people need but we have done a really good job in Watford.

"Their proposals simply won’t achieve the right homes for the town and threaten to take local decisions away from the council on what we know is such an important issue for us.

"We are extremely disappointed the government’s emphasis is on quantity of new homes with no reference to making sure they are the right type of homes that people need. We firmly believe that good local councils know their areas best and should be trusted to develop the right housing solutions for their residents."

On November 16 Prime Minister Theresa May visited Edgware development The Rushgroves, to announce her "personal mission" to build more homes.

She said: "There is a generation who fear they are going to be worse off than their parents and the changes we made mean more homes are being built but there are other things the government is doing to encourage them.

"£2 billion extra into affordable housing, £10 million into Help to Buy. This is a really important issue for us and we have seen more and more homes have been built than for almost a decade."

Watford Borough Council has announced its own cabinet decision to ask for a "commuted sum" from developers in lieu of receiving 35 per cent of a development to affordable housing.

The council believe this will mean they will have more control over delivering appropriate affordable developments.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Peter Taylor said: "For the majority of housing schemes we will still be pushing developers hard to deliver what we expect in terms of affordable housing. But we know that, in some cases, this simply won’t give us the sort of homes needed to take a family out of temporary accommodation and give them a more permanent roof over their heads.

"Handing us 35 per cent of a development of studio or one bedroom flats doesn’t help the housing crisis in Watford whereas money we can use to build family homes is a real boost."

Other policies the government announced included setting a long term rent deal for local authorities, a white paper which will ensure councils release more land for housing and more discussions with large and small developers.