Nearly a quarter of Conservative and one-third of Liberal Democrat councillors do not support the Localism Bill, new research has revealed.

Unsurprisingly only six per cent of Labour councillors are in favour of localism. And with Labour expected to increase its seats at the next local election, the number of councillors opposed to the bill is likely grow.

This is a worrying statistic for what is one of the Government’s major policies.

The research, which included a survey of 400 councillors from across the UK, including 31 in the West Midlands, and 2,000 members of the general public, was unveiled at CB Richard Ellis’ third annual Government & Infrastructure conference.

Of the 2,000 members of the public surveyed, four in five (78 per cent) thought that their local area was just right or already over-developed, suggesting that NIMBYism could be a significant barrier to new development.

A poll of 200 senior property industry professionals conducted at the conference also highlighted NIMBYism concerns. Nearly half (46 per cent) warned that localism would increase NIMBYism and subsequently make it harder to bring forward the new developments needed to encourage growth.

The Government has implemented a raft of incentives to offset cuts and encourage councils to pursue economic growth through new development, including the £1.4 million Regional Growth Fund (RGF), New Homes Bonus (NHB) and Enterprise Zones.