A council leader in one of Britain's most unspoilt rural corners has slammed new Labour housing targets he said could cover green fields with "soulless modern estates".

Wiltshire County Council leader Richard Clewer said he was "livid" about Angela Rayner's huge home building drive which has seen targets for Wiltshire shoot up by "81 percent".

Ms Rayner has been accused of "shredding" housing targets for London where most new houses are needed, favouring instead to push up numbers in Conservative rural areas by as much as 99 percent.

At the same time the Deputy Prime Minister has announced she is cutting the London quota by 20,000 homes.

In Wiltshire, a traditionally rural county with green fields and pretty villages, local authority leader Richard Clewer asked "why should rural England be expected to build the houses that London cannot bring itself to build?".

Are you worried about a new housing development near you? email richard.ashmore@reachplc.com

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "In Wiltshire, housing targets are rising by 81%, from 1,917 houses a year to 3,476.

“They are proposing a new allocation system that will dump the large majority of these houses in green fields and, in some cases, green-belt sites in rural England."

Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing Secretary, wrote to council leaders and metropolitan mayors in July to set out plans for 1.5 million new homes by 2029, which she described as "radical".

She added her Government is "committed to protecting nature" but building on brownfield land "can only be part of the answer", so councils should expect to review the green belts that surround some areas including London, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Tyne and Wear.

Shadow housing secretary Ms Badenoch pointed out the Government had ditched the previous policy requirement for "beautiful housing".

The Conservative frontbencher said: "She's telling us she's going to be replacing what (local people) want with a requirement to meet 1.5 million ugly houses instead. Why on earth would they take out something which means so much to local communities?

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said: "All areas of the country must play their part", adding: Wiltshire’s target has been set objectively and is in line with local housing need.

“We cannot continue with the high rents and unaffordable house prices that we see across the country."

Consultation on the housing target reforms is open to public comment until September 24.