Developers should be forced to build in towns before the countryside, says Ed Balls Mr Balls added that local authorities should look to clear the planning permissions that have already been granted. There are an estimated planning permissions for an estimated 400,000 new homes in England and Wales which have been granted but not yet built. Mr Balls added: "Our problem at the moment is the way the current market is working and the planning system means that there are lots and lots of planning permissions on brownfield sites in the centre of cities like where I am an MP in Leeds which are not being developed and that is causing huge frustration. That is partly about the market, it is partly about support for affordable homes, what we want to do is use those planning permissions. He continued: "I think we need to do more to give councils the ability to follow through on planning permissions they have already granted. It is not about confiscation - it is about saying, if you have got planning permission we want you to use it. In his speech, Mr Balls praised a report into infrastructure spending by Sir John Armitt, the chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority. He said: "We will set up an independent infrastructure commission to end dither and delay in infrastructure planning and build the consensus on infrastructure that we need to invest for the long-term."