Prescott and three other Cabinet colleagues are to convene with 2000 housebuilders, architects and public sector experts in Manchester next week to take stock of how the £22bn sustainable communities plan is faring.

This is enough money to carpet Staffordshire in £20 notes, but is it enough to make a difference? Apart from the little matter of the dwellings, there are thousands of miles of roads, pipes and cables to dig and lay, schools and hospitals to build, and all the regulators, stakeholders and tenants to consult, persuade and appease. Over the next 11 pages we look at the big picture and the fine detail, and hear from key players such as Tony Pidgley and Sir Stuart Lipton

The sustainable communities summit 2005