The Committee on the ODPM: housing, planning, local government and the regions has resolved to hold an inquiry into planning for sustainable housing and communities.

Witnesses are invited to submit memoranda to the Committee on the points below and other relevant topics to the Committee before 14 October. It is unlikely that memoranda submitted after this date will be published. (Witnesses who wish their memoranda to be treated in confidence should contact the Committee Clerk in advance.) Witnesses should also note that decisions about who to call for oral evidence are likely to be taken on the basis of the evidence received by this date.

Evidence is sought on the Deputy Prime Minister's statement on housing and planning on July 18^th, in particular whether the proposals are desirable, and whether and how they can be achieved. Matters of interest include:

• The overall scale of housebuilding required,
• Are the proposals likely to significantly reduce house prices
• The geographical distribution of new housing, including plans to concentrate development in the South East in four growth areas, Milton Keynes, the Cambridge/Stansted Corridor, Ashford and the Thames Gateway
• Whether the proposals will promote high quality sustainable communities whilst avoiding poorly designed urban sprawl
• Proposals for new Millennium Villages
• The balance of new development between housing for sale and social housing
• The extent to which decisions relating to housing, including numbers, tenure and density, should be taken by central and local government

Evidence should be sent to the ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government & the Regions Select Committee House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA, in electronic version in MS Word or Rich Text format, either by e-mail to odpmcom@parliament.uk or on a disk accompanying the hard copy; witnesses without access to a computer are respectfully requested to take particular care that submissions are legible. Please note that memoranda should be limited in length to six A4 pages. Memoranda submitted to the Committee should be kept confidential until published by the Committee. Guidance on the submission of evidence can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/witguide.htm

Contact: Ben Kochan, Committee Specialist 020 7 219 1342