A raft of new planning policies for the borough will turn Richmond into a “ghetto for the rich”, it has been claimed.

Richmond Council’s cabinet will discuss a report on key changes to policies concerning housing, town centres and taller buildings, on Monday.

The Liberal Democrats expressed anger at the proposed changes, which includes scrapping quotas for affordable housing.

Councillor Stephen Knight, leader of Richmond Lib Dems, said: “They [the council] are moving towards a proliferation of large, expensive homes. This is a form of social engineering.

“Richmond will be a place for the rich, poorer families will be pushed out. This is a move towards creating a ghetto for the rich in this part of London - it’s extremely worrying.”

The report states there will be more priority given to family housing and flexibility to return houses converted to flats back into large homes. It also suggests the quota of 50 per cent of homes in a new development needing to be “affordable” should be removed.

The planned changes come just months after housing charity Shelter warned the borough could take 17 years to clear its housing waiting list and concluded there was a “desperate lack of affordable housing in Richmond”.

Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said the current system had failed to deliver the affordable homes that were “desperately needed” and his charity’s research showed 98 per cent of councils were not providing enough.

He added: “Any new system must be carefully thought through if the Government is serious about tackling the housing crisis.

“The only way to guarantee targets materialise into bricks and mortar is to ensure real transparency so we know exactly what’s being delivered [and residents] can hold their local authority to account.”

Councillor Virginia Morris, Richmond Council cabinet member for environment, said the borough was in desperate need of three and four bedroom homes and the new policies, due to come into force next autumn, were designed to achieve it.

She added the removal of the “inflexible, one-size-fits-all” 50 per cent affordable housing quota was a London-wide policy and the new plan was a more common sense approach that recognised local circumstances.

She added: “Twickenham or Barnes are not the same as Camden, Croydon, Barking or Brixton. “In our borough we need a framework that allows us to regulate development in a way that is sensitive and appropriate to the needs of local areas and their economies.

"It is possible the new policy will lead to less new houses overall. “It is certainly likely to lead to less studios and one bed apartments as the council is freed from blindly pursuing an ill-fitting 50 per cent target regardless of the size or quality of dwellings delivered.”