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Blunkett regeneration warning
Home Secretary David Blunkett warned that regeneration projects will fail unless councils encourage more community involvement.

"Where housing regeneration hasn't worked is where people haven't been engaged," Blunkett told a meeting of the Local Government Association on Monday.

He added that public participation – such as tenants helping decide facilities in housing redevelopments – would help boost turnout. "If you can engage people with what they're doing in their own neighbourhoods, they will engage in voting," he said.

Private cash to fill housing gap
The Treasury has reinforced its desire for the private sector to play a bigger role in the provision of affordable housing. Paul Boateng, chief secretary to the Treasury, told a departmental fringe session on Monday: "We have limited the capacity of the private sector to contribute to social housing. Simply leaving it to social landlords is not enough." His comments are bound to fuel the argument for handing social housing grant direct to developers.

Hemingway makes design stand
Good design in social housing is being scuppered by the drive for high density, according to designer Wayne Hemingway. The chairman of lobbying group ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ for Life claimed that planning policy guidance note PPG3, which encourages higher density developing, creates "prison cells". At a debate held by think tank Social Market Foundation on Monday, Hemingway said: "There's a danger that PPG3 will be a blight on the future. It's to blame for bad design."

Asylum rights demand
Asylum campaigners demanded the government rethink laws that deprive asylum seekers of support unless they claim immediately on arrival in this country. Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, told a debate on Tuesday that those denied support under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act end up homeless and destitute. "There should at least be a right of appeal rather than the costly process of having to challenge by judicial review."

Livingstone wants 'super-boroughs'
London mayor Ken Livingstone revealed a radical plan on Tuesday to merge the city's 33 authorities into a clutch of "super-boroughs". Livingstone has no power to do this but hopes the proposal will be considered by the government. He believes it would cut red tape and boost public service efficiency. But there are fears it will worsen the democratic deficit.