The Communities and Local Government department permitted development rights consultation paper will recommend allowing developers to convert empty shops into offices or flats.

Planning minister Nick Boles will ask councils to focus on ‘prime shopping streets’ while opening others up for residential conversions.

He said: ‘People’s shopping habits are changing very fast as a result of the rise in internet shopping and changes in lifestyles and working patterns. We need to think creatively about how to help town centres thrive in this new era.

‘We want to encourage local councils to concentrate retail activity into the prime shopping streets in the heart of their town centres and adopt a more relaxed approach to underused retail frontages.

‘By making it easier to convert shops into houses and flats, we can ensure that we are making the best use of existing property to meet the acute housing needs of people, young and old.’

The planning minister also suggested allowing barns to be turned into small housing developments in a bid to combat the rural affordable housing crisis.  

‘We want to make the best use of existing buildings in the countryside to meet the desperate need for affordable housing in rural communities,’ he said.

‘The more redundant barns that can be converted into homes for young families, the more we can protect green fields from development.’