Housing; Can local government build with Brown's bricks?

When it comes to identifying subjects of great British conversations, housing probably comes a close second to the weather in terms of its ability to prompt the normally rational to become suddenly over-emotional.

Whether it is the challenge to get decent social housing or the frantic leap to get onto the private housing ladder, an individual's right to a decent home appears to be intrinsically linked to their sense of how 'fairly' they are treated by those in power.

The suggestion that councils are to get powers and responsibilities to build tens of thousands of social houses a year will also undoubtedly raise emotions in the town hall. For many, this is a great opportunity to better place-shape, should they also get the right financial tools to help them deliver.

But after having spent so long unable to take the initiative in the way the housing green paper will promise, are councils prepared? Remember the social catastrophes that resulted from the design horrors that came with the last major housing expansion in the Sixties.

Councils face growing pressures from an aging population and new requirements to tackle climate change. This means the social homes of the future can't just be glass and steel. They must also be linked to proper infrastructure, energy efficient, and built in the knowledge that increasing numbers of residents are likely to have limited or decreasing mobility.

Do councils have the planning expertise or capacity? Will political pressure see developments pushed through too quickly? Furthermore, although they will be expected to work closely with housing associations, are these partnerships geared up to deliver?

A recent Young Foundation report found these relationships to be “scattershot and too often weak”. No one could have anything but praise should Gordon Brown leave a legacy of truly sustainable, affordable housing. But without the right checks and balances, he risks delivering a raft of homes in which no one actually wants to live.