A report by a professor who advises the government has claimed house builders have a "terrifying sway" over ministers.

Anne Power's study on urban living concludes the government's latest housing initiative amounted to abandoning poor areas and making richer areas richer.

Forum response: British Property Federation

Christopher Morley, director of planning and construction for the British Property Federation, told ePolitix.com: "The BPF would challenge Ms Power's suggestion that the government's policy of trying to respond positively to the housing needs in the south east through subsidy for housing and associated infrastructure to support it is 'tantamount to abandoning deprived communities, helping the rich to be richer and the poor to hang themselves'.

"The government is trying to approach regional allocation of funding in an even handed manner but critically balancing expenditure with need. John Prescott makes clear in 'Sustainable Communities: Building For The Future' that communities are much more than just housing.

"For deprived communities, that sometimes suffer from housing abandonment, government's effort and money are far better served helping to provide the conditions necessary for a flourishing economy to provide jobs and wealth, good public services, including education and training opportunities and the right links with the wider regional, national and international community."

Forum Response: Construction Products Association

Chris Bennett, External Affairs Executive for the Construction Products Association, told ePolitix.com: "To suggest that house builders have a 'terrifying sway' over ministers may grab the headlines but it is a long way from the truth. There has been massive under-investment in UK social housing by successive governments and the number of houses currently being built is at the lowest point since the Second World War.

"In its Communities Plan, the government has recognised that new housing provision has failed to keep up with the rise in household numbers. At around 140,000 homes, current levels of new housing in England falls short of projections of household growth of around 155,000 a year, especially as the net figure, taking into account demolitions and conversions, is nearer 120,000.

"The focus on improving new housing provision in the south east is particularly welcome. Not only are the pressures for additional housing strongest in this part of the country, but house builders have also encountered some of the greatest resistance to even providing the new homes set out in regional planning guidance. The overall up-lift to current housing provision could be around 20,000 homes a year, a 10 per cent increase on current UK housing starts.

"However, the government's intention to increase the planning gain burden upon new developments, while simultaneously seeking to smaller homes to be built to higher densities is likely to depress many development's commercial rational and could hamper the delivery of the targeted new homes in the region.

"The Plan also addresses areas of deprived communities rather than abandoning them as argued by Ms Power. The government has identified around one million homes which are affected by low demand and abandonment, spread across over 120 local authorities in the North and the Midlands and has set itself the objective of bringing life back to these areas and recreating sustainable communities.

"By 2005 strategic action plans will be in place for all nine market renewal pathfinder projects, large scale clearance, refurbishment and new build work underway across all pathfinders, complemented by improvements in local services. The government expects to have turned around declining demand across the country by 2010.

"House builders in the UK all too often have excessive expectations placed on them by government. Heavy planning gain requirements for example can make new developments scarcely profitable. The Communities plan provides a long overdue supply of new social housing stock to the South East and attempts to address the problems of deprived communities elsewhere in the UK. For this, it is to be applauded."

Forum Brief: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Neil Johnson, senior parliamentary and policy officer for RICS, told ePolitix.com: "The RICS has broadly welcomed John Prescott's Sustainable Communities Plan that was published earlier this month, since it recognises the very real, but very different, problems faced by communities throughout the country.

"In the south, with the well documented problems of excess demand, the plan recognises the need to provide new homes in response to that demand. However, RICS was particularly encouraged by the deputy prime minister's recognition that building sustainable communities is about more that just new homes.

"The improved transport infrastructure, high quality design in towns and cities, the funding of new schools, more health provision and reform of the planning system promised by the plan demonstrate recognition at last by government that building long term successful communities is about more than just new houses.

"However, there is a lot more to the Communities Plan than just building new houses in the South East. The low demand housing pathfinders will, for example, be awarded £500 million spread over the next three years with the amount rising to £290 million in 2005/06.

"Homeowners living in low demand areas that are undergoing clearance will receive an increase of more than £1000 in compensation on offer for the disturbance that they suffer. With the majority of these being found in the north and midlands, it is clear that the plan is also seeking to make a very real impact in other, less affluent, areas of the country as well.

"We believe that the plan represents a bold attempt by government to try to address the problems that are faced by communities throughout the UK, both in the south and the north. We now wait to see if the government can deliver."

Forum response: Woodland Trust

A spokesman for the Woodland Trust told ePolitix.com: "Our view on the Sustainable Communities Plan is that the government are giving with one hand and taking away with the other. The increased funding for green spaces in towns and cities in the plan is welcome.

"There is a pressing need to invest in these spaces to ensure that people are able to live in surroundings that are healthy, pleasant and green, but this does not hide the fact that the plans for new houses could wreak havoc on ancient woodland in the South East and East of England.

"There are significant concentrations of ancient woodland surrounding Ashford, and the M11 corridor. This irreplaceable habitat must be protected from development. We support the designation of more greenbelt land as long as this is land that provides valuable wildlife habitats accessible for people to enjoy and is not just an arable desert. But under no circumstances should this come at the expense of our equivalent of the rainforest."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the BRC, told ePolitix.com: "If new communities are to created in the south-east they will undoubtedly require large-scale government investment in the infrastructure to make them viable.

"We support local councils' view that infrastructure is not simply a question of schools, hospitals, and transport provision. Adequate retail facilities, potentially to serve hundreds of thousands of people, will need to be facilitated and supported by government planning and regeneration policies. Without access to the employment, goods, and services that retail provides these new communities will be impossible to sustain."

"Housebuilders are one of a number of key stakeholders we are working with to ensure the successful delivery of the communities plan. This is about providing homes in places where people want to live, potecting our green and open spaces and most importantly building sustainable communities."