The Tories would dramatically change planning laws, which would mean a high speed rail line from London to Birmingham could be pushed through without lengthy planning hearings.

The measure is one of a series of radical reforms to planning law set out by Meriden MP Caroline Spelman in her role as Shadow Local Government Secretary.

A Conservative Government would also scrap housing targets set by Whitehall which force local authorities to build thousands of homes.

For example, Birmingham has offered to build 50,600 new homes as part of the Regional Spatial Strategy.

But central government rejected the proposals by the region’s councils and called in its own team of planning officials - who said Birmingham should build an extra 10,000 homes on top of its original proposal.

The housing targets have been particularly controversial in Solihull, where the local authority set out plans to build 7,600 homes.

Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, the Government’s consultants, said this should be increased to 20,600, but this proposal is strongly opposed by the local authority.

Mrs Spelman published the proposals in a green paper setting out Tory planning policy if the party wins the next election.

Instead of ordering councils to build homes, the Conservatives would allow them to make their own decisions but encourage housebuilding by offering to match the extra council tax paid by new residents through extra Treasury grants, for six years.

And authorities which succeed in attracting new businesses to an area will also be able to keep the extra business taxes they pay for six years, instead of handing it over to the Treasury as now.

Mrs Spelman said a Tory Government would streamline the procedures allowing major projects to receive planning permission through a hybrid Bill in the House of Commons rather than the usual procedures.

This effectively makes the Commons the planning authority, and allows the Government to set the timetable for giving approval. Although it could still take a year for the Bill to be debated, this would be significantly faster than the usual system as it will avoid a public inquiry.

Mrs Spelman said: “High Speed Two will go through as a hybrid bill over a year in Parliament. It will be fully debated by every MP whose constituency will be affected.

“This is important because it is something the West Midlands desperately needs.”

Other measures included on the Green Paper include restricting rules on home building to allow councils to use “brownfield” land which has previously been used by industry.

Mrs Spelman said: “There is land in Birmingham which could be used for housing but is just lying derelict, and we will scrap the restrictions responsible for that.”

Tories would also scrap restrictions on the number of parking spaces new residential or commercial developments can have. These were introduced by former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in an attempt to encourage motorists to use public transport, but Conservatives say the policy has simply made life difficult for motorists.

The proposed Bill would also give residents the right to appeal against planning decisions. Currently, only developers have the right to appeal.