James Thomson, chief executive of the housebuilder which specialises in affordable housing stock, told The Yorkshire Post that more needs to be done by politicians to address supply issues in the sector.

He said: “If Government is really serious about the levelling-up agenda and getting young people in the North and Midlands into housing and out of the rent trap with the economic benefits that brings, it needs to be serious about addressing some of the blockages to affordable housing.”

Mr Thomson said there are several areas in which legislative changes could make a difference.

"We would like to see a prioritisation of brownfield land regeneration sites, with a presumption towards planning consent and development in those areas,” he said.

"I’d like to see some policies which have unintended consequences of the development of regeneration areas revisited.

"An example is the requirement for biodiversity net gain oddly penalises brownfield over greenfield and that’s because brownfield sites left derelict for many years can have a lot of biodiversity on it whereas a greenfield site that has been ploughed by a farmer for 100 years has very little.

"The other one is we need investment in the planning system. Planning is taking a very long period of time. It needs to be ensured that local authorities have the resources and people to take applications through planning.”

Mr Thomson was speaking after Gleeson released its latest results for the year ending June 30 which recorded a 33.1% increase in profit before tax to £55.5m from £41.7m the year before.

Revenue increased by 29.4% from £288.6m to £373.4m.

Despite concerns from other housebuilders that rising interest rates and other inflationary pressures on the cost-of-living could lead to a cooling housing market and affect their future performance, Mr Thomson said Gleeson’s business model puts it in a strong position to weather the current economic challenges.

"Our business model is building and selling high-quality but really low cost and genuinely affordable homes for young first-time buyers, many of whom are key workers,” he said.

"Three out of four of our customers are first-time buyers, three out of four are aged under 35.

"Our average sale price is £167,000. The average new build price is £266,000 so we are £100,000 cheaper than the competition.

"We build in areas where others don’t build and where there is huge demand from young people on lower and average incomes to get out of the rent trap or leave the family home and get into home ownership. That’s why we’ve have strong results.”

Gleeson currently has 27 live sites in Yorkshire and Humber, with a further nine planned.

He said Gleeson’s “very resilient model” means it is relatively protected from further interest rate rises, which are expected as part of the Bank of England’s ongoing attempts to reduce inflation.

Mr Thomson said an interest rate increase of around 1.75% would be needed to make it cheaper to rent than buy a Gleeson home – and that would only be on the basis of rental costs staying the same.

He added: “Even in that scenario, I’d still expect people to buy homes for the security of tenure it gives them and the fact it is their own.”

Gleeson boss calls on Liz Truss's Government to tackle affordable housing 'blockages'