His attack on the planning system is the latest salvo in a war of words over why the industry is failing to deliver the number of homes the country needs.

Council body, the Local Government Association, lay the blame at the feet of house builders last month when it published research showing 400,000 homes in England have been given planning permission but have yet to be built.

The study also showed developers put in 5% fewer planning applications last year and were taking longer to complete work on site.

But Pidgley has hit back and said: “Planning remains complex and obtaining planning consents involves consulting widely with multiple stakeholders.

“This causes delays to planning decisions and an inconsistency of approach at a local level, despite the National Planning Policy Framework and the presumption in favour of sustainable development.

“This remains a hurdle to the industry being able to increase substantially the supply of new homes.”

In a trading up day covering May to August, he said Berkeley  achieve further growth in forward sales which now exceed £1.5bn.

During the summer the house builder added three sites to its land bank.

This includes a 10-acre redevelopment site in White City, a site in Battersea with an existing detailed planning consent for 456 apartments and a scheme in West Sussex, delivered from the Group’s future pipeline, for which a consent for 69 new homes was granted in the period.

Berkeley has contracted to acquire two further sites in London at Southall and Hornsey on conditional terms.

Pidgley added that Berkeley was now well positioned to grow the future potential gross margin in the land bank to £3bn by the end of the current financial year.